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
Next Episode: Riddles

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Thoughts on Season Five.

Janeway wrestles with her past choices in Night.

THOUGHTS ON SEASON FIVE:

This is a tricky overview for me to write, given that I burned out on writing reviews and took an extended break about three quarters of the way through Season Five. I rewatched a handful of episodes before moving forward (not all, because life is far, far too short for me to ever rewatch The Disease or The Fight). Even so, some of this is going to be based on memory and on re-reading my years-old reviews from the first part of the season.

That disclaimer out of the way, what follows are my general impressions of Season Five of Star Trek: Voyager.


SEASON FOUR, CONTINUED:

As the season opens, Voyager feels the most confident it has ever been. And why not? Season Four was generally well-received. The addition of Seven of Nine to the cast worked well; and though the odd clunker is baked in with a 26-episode season, overall episode quality was higher than had previously been the case.

For its first two thirds, I'd say that the best description of Season Five is "Season Four, Continued." Seven of Nine remains prominent, with major episodes centered around her backstory. Other episodes follow up on the Borg and Species 8472. Most importantly, up through Dark Frontier, the overall quality remains high. Extreme Risk is pretty bad, and Gravity is rather middling, but most installments are well-made and entertaining. There are even a few standouts, notably Timeless and Latent Image.

Unfortunately, the season doesn't manage to sustain that level to the end...

The Borg Queen tempts Seven in Dark Frontier. It feels like
a season finale - and it probably should have been...

AN UNEVEN FINAL THIRD:

Dark Frontier is to Season Five of Voyager what Q Who? was to Season Two of TNG. It's a strong episode (involving the Borg, no less), and everything about the production indicates that it was the season's big spectacle. But once it's done, there are still several episodes to go - and, as was true of Season Two of TNG, the writers don't seem to know what to do with those episodes.

There are bright spots throughout this final stretch. I enjoyed Course: Oblivion and Think Tank, even if the latter suffers from a weak ending. 11:59 shows off Kate Mulgrew's acting range, and Relativity is a lot of fun.

But this marks the point at which there's a bad (or at least mediocre) episode for every good one. In rapid succession, we get a few dire offerings: In The Disease, Harry Kim has sex... without permission! (From Janeway, I mean. He had permission from his partner). The Fight combines boxing with one of Chakotay's Vision Quests. Juggernaut focuses on a very grumpy B'Elanna Torres...grumpy, I'm assuming, because she read the script first. All we need is a planet of Irish stereotypes and a clip show, and it would basically be late Season Two of TNG!

It's a pity. As of Dark Frontier, I was ready to label this as Voyager's best season thus far. But that last batch of episodes moves it well below Season Four in my rankings (though still above Season Two and Three).

Torres grapples with trauma in Extreme Risk. Believe it
or not, this is the better of her two Season Five episodes.

TWO TIERS OF CHARACTERS:

It's been evident for a while that Voyager has separated its regular cast into two tiers. Janeway, the Doctor, Seven, and Tuvok regularly get the best material. This makes sense, given that Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan, and Tim Russ are the show's most consistently strong actors. But the remaining characters... mostly get to fight over scraps.

Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres are the oddest characters to have been shunted to the lower tier, given that they actually got a lot of focus early in the series. Despite the characters being interesting on the page, and despite solid performances from Robert Duncan McNeill and Roxann Dawson, Seasons Four and Five have seen both increasingly relegated to "scraps."

At least Tom gets one good spotlight episode, along with some decent material in other episodes. Bride of Chaotica is a particularly entertaining show, one that I included in my partial season rewatch for no reason other than wanting to see it again. But the writers don't seem to have any clue what to do with B'Elanna - which is strange, since she was one of the better characters in the early seasons.

There were two Torres-centric Season Five episodes, and both were... well, bad. Extreme Risk had an interesting idea, as B'Elanna suffered survivor's guilt after learning about the deaths of her friends in the Maquis. Unfortunately, it dealt with the subject in a painfully superficial manner, with her cured of all problems by having a chat with Chakotay. I'd make a crack about '80s After School Specials, but most of those were frankly better written.

Juggernaut saves time by not even bothering with an interesting idea. Instead, the bad TV writer's trick is employed of regressing B'Elanna into the walking personification of anger. Why is she angry? Don't ask questions that might lead to anything interesting. She's just angry and foul tempered because that way, it feels like progress when she starts behaving like herself again at the end. The episode itself is bad; its treatment of B'Elanna as a character is awful.

Though at least, unlike Harry, she doesn't have an episode that sees her getting into trouble for having sex with another consenting adult...

Neelix argues with Janeway in Once Upon a Time.

THE MOST IMPROVED CHARACTER - NEELIX:

The last few seasons, the writers seem to have made a habit of taking one failed character and putting some real focus on them to prove that the character can work. Chakotay got good material in late Season Three and early Season Four. Harry Kim was made actively compelling in Timeless, my pick as Season Five's best episode (and yes, my favorite episode this season was a Harry Kim episode. Hell has frozen over).

For the bulk of this season, though, the designated "improved" character has been Neelix. Yes, the usually insufferable Talaxian is transformed into someone sympathetic and even likable. I began to consciously notice this while watching the late Season Five episodes. When putting this overview together, I reviewed my Season Five posts in which I used the tag, "Neelix," just to make sure. And yes, in every case, I have remarked that Season Five Neelix has been well-portrayed as a character.

This includes episodes that show his faults. Once Upon a Time carries forward Neelix's friendship with young Naomi Wildman (Scarlett Pomers), first seen in Season Four's Mortal Coil. The plot revolves around Neelix trying to distract Naomi while her mother is in mortal danger. It reaches a point where it's obvious to all that the girl needs to be told that her mother might not come home; but Neelix digs in, desperate to shield Naomi for as long as possible, even shouting at Janeway at one point. He's in the wrong, completely in the wrong... but given the situation and given his backstory, we can fully empathize with him even as we see that he's wrong. And, good writing for Neelix aside, that one's not even that great an episode!

Other episodes use him sparingly, but to good effect. In Drone, he's the one crew member who is open in his interactions with the Borg drone. In Counterpoint, his good cheer helps to keep the telepathic children calm and quiet during the Devore inspections. In 11:59, he provides a sympathetic ear to Janeway's story about her ancestor and spends his free time digging up additional information. These are all good uses of the character, as opposed to the annoying comic relief that's so often been his default mode in the past.

But, if past "improved characters" are any indication, Season Six will likely return Neelix to his previous state of bad comedy relief, just like Chakotay returned to being cardboard and Harry returned to being... well, Harry. It's as if the writers have some sort of cap on how many well-written characters can exist at any one time.

The Doctor uncovers a past decision that he can't live with
in Latent Image, one of the season's best episodes.

SEASON SIX WISHLIST:

A couple of the items from my earlier "Season Five Wishlist" actually came to pass. Seven of Nine has remained one of the show's most prominent characters, but she has been pared back. As good as she was in Season Four, it felt as if other characters suffered for her success. In Season Five, she fits within the ensemble.

That leads me to my primary wish list item for Season Six... and really, for the remainder of the series. I would really like to see the show balance its cast better. I already mentioned that Voyager's regulars are divided into two tiers. And yes, Janeway and Seven and Tuvok and the Doctor are fine characters well-portrayed by fine actors. But the "B" tier characters can also work, as has been proved in past episodes. B'Elanna used to be one of the most interesting members of the cast, and I'm confident that she could be again if anyone bothered to actually write for her.

Past that... Well, I've long since given up on Voyager ever being a show that's consistently interesting to me. That said, Season Four, and at least the first two thirds of Season Five, show that it's capable of being a pretty good version of itself. I'd like to see more of that: more compelling episodes like Latent Image and Timeless, more bonkers fun like Bride of Chaotica! and Relativity, more decent character pieces like Counterpoint... and far, far fewer piles of sludge like Juggernaut that seem to exist solely to burn off an episode slot.

Right now, Voyager is my least favorite Star Trek series. But it has a pretty good cast; and for all the wasted potential, it has a capable team of writers. There's still 51 episodes left, which is longer than full runs of several series. That's more than enough time for Voyager to make me change my opinion of it. I'd love to see that happen... though at the same time, I'm not holding my breath.

Janeway plays an Evil Overlord. It seems to come naturally to her.

IN CONCLUSION:

Voyager is not, and has never been, a bad show on an episode-by-episode basis. The best episodes of Voyager are as good as those of any Trek series, and the worst episodes are no worse than the dregs of TNG and Deep Space 9, both of which I like much better as series.

Its big problem is that, unlike those shows, there doesn't seem to be any real focus. It's set in a new section of space, but it doesn't expand the Trek universe the way TNG did. The crew is confined to one ship and has no support, but there's precious little in the way of developing plot and character arcs like DS9 had.

In the end, it's mostly a collection of episodes: some good, some bad, and a lot that fall in between. More than anything else, I think that's what keeps me at arm's length. There are individual episodes that I love... but even when I watch a great one, I can't summon up any excitement for the next one.


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5-23. 11:59.

Shannon O'Donnel (Kate Mulgrew) meets
bookseller Henry Janeway (Kevin Tighe).

Original Air Date: May 5, 1999. Teleplay by: Joe Menosky. Story by: Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky. Directed by: David Livingston.


THE PLOT:

Voyager is enjoying a moment of peace, an uneventful trip through a calm area of space. This leads the crew to reflect on their cultures and ancestors, prompting Janeway to reminisce about the ancestor who most inspired her: Shannon O'Donnel, who helped to create the Millennium Gate.

In December 2000, Shannon (also Kate Mulgrew) was just an unemployed engineer, driving across the country with no real goals in mind. Her car breaks down in the small town of Portage Creek, Indiana. When she takes refuge from the cold in the bookstore of Henry Janeway (Kevin Tighe), he takes pity on her, offering her a job while she waits for the repairs to be finished.

Henry is the town's sole holdout, refusing to sell his shop to allow the construction of the Millennium Gate - something which has not made him popular with the locals. He insists that it would destroy the town's heritage to bulldoze it for what he sees as a "glorified shopping mall." Shannon grows close to both him and his son, Jason - close enough to be noticed by Gerald Moss (John Carroll Lynch), the spokesman for the company that wants to build the gate.

Moss has a deal for Shannon, an escape from her dead-end life. She has the qualifications to work as an engineering consultant. She just has to convince Henry Janeway to sell!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Though most of the episode takes place in the past, with Kate Mulgrew mostly playing Janeway's ancestor, Joe Menosky's script still gives Janeway a decent arc. She idolizes Shannon, even stating that she joined Starfleet in part to live up to her legacy. Within the series, though, it's been centuries since these events, and direct information is scarce. When Neelix is able to find a photograph of Shannon, it pushes Janeway to want to find more - but inevitably, she doesn't like everything that she discovers.

Shannon O'Donnel: Kate Mulgrew gives her normal Janeway performance in the present story, but she also plays Shannon in the bulk of the episode. It's very much to the credit of both Mulgrew and the script that Shannon is a distinct character from Janeway. Life hasn't been kind to Shannon, and there's an undercurrent of desperation in Mulgrew's when she all but begs Henry for a job. In the scene in which Moss makes his offer, we can feel the conflict, eagerness vs. loyalty to Henry. Finally, when she and Henry argue, Shannon's first instinct is to run away and leave the town behind - something very unlike Janeway. Throughout, Mulgrew injects a hint of something tentative in Shannon, helping to create a full sense of a woman who has never quite managed to commit to anything.

Henry Janeway: Kevin Tighe, best known for sleazy politicians and white-collar bad guys, seems to enjoy playing an actual likable person. There's energy and enthusiasm in his voice as he talks about the past, and he's charming when he sets up a "Paris date" with Shannon, propping up books about Paris in his shop as they eat. Henry is a good man, but he's also deeply stubborn. He dismisses the worthy elements of the Millennium Gate project purely because it will also include shop space and is designed to turn a profit. When Jason and Shannon try to point out the useful aspects, he lashes out instantly. His crusade against the company is sincere, but there is a note of self-aggrandizement, with him repeatedly comparing himself to historical and mythological heroes throughout the episode.

Gerald Moss: Decades of movies and television programs have coded us to see him as the bad guy. It becomes clear, however, that he's anything but. The project he represents is beneficial (and since it's seen that way centuries later, I'm going to take that as read). He doesn't attempt to cheat the townspeople, offering to buy well above market value. He never tries to strong-arm Henry into selling. The most morally suspect thing he does, offering Shannon a job if she can persuade Henry, is offset when he eventually offers her a job regardless of the bookseller's decision: "If we didn't think you had something to add to this project, we never would have made the offer in the first place."

Neelix: His interest in Earth's past is sparked by a competition with Tom Paris, as the two attempt to stump each other regarding their respective cultures. Janeway's talk about her ancestor leads him to search for more information, and he shows an understanding of how to investigate the past that outstrips Seven's when he expands her initial search beyond Starfleet databases. Neelix is relaxed and likable throughout, and Ethan Phillips is particularly good opposite Kate Mulgrew. Note to the writers: This Neelix is a joy to watch. Ditch the stupid comedy relief version and write him this way from now on.


THOUGHTS:

"I've gone through dozens of histories written about twenty-first century Earth, all of them biased in one way or another... so I go back to the raw material. Birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, census surveys, voter registration forms, housing records, medical, employment, court records. It's all fragmented and incomplete."
-Janeway discovers the frustrations of historical research.

I love the quote above. It is one of the most accurate descriptions of any historical research that I've encountered in fiction. The past itself may be set. But unless you happen to have Doctor Who's Time Space Visualizer, then your access to the past is limited to historical records and accounts, all of which are filtered through interpretation and bias.

Those records that even survive through time. Across centuries, official documents are lost, while a stray item may survive simply because the right person finds it - such as the Ferengi who retained the photo of Shannon simply because it was marketable "as a nostalgic gift item." I suspect someone who worked on this episode has done some level of historical research to slip in observations like that.

I thoroughly enjoyed 11:59. The Shannon/Henry story that occupies the bulk of the episode is lightweight but charming, and it's enjoyable to see the Voyager crew relaxed and engaging in leisure activities. The relationship between Shannon and Henry is, by necessity, quickly sketched, but it basically works. Shannon is an explorer by nature, but she also needs a place to call home; Henry has a love of the past, at least as it exists in books, but he also tends to hide from the present in it. They are different enough for there to be moments of conflict, but each offers something that the other needs - and Mulgrew and Tighe are good enough both individually and together to sell the mutual attraction.

I also appreciated that the present day story wasn't a throwaway. Shannon's story does impact Janeway, as she learns that her ancestor wasn't a perfect match with the woman in her imagination. The script doesn't go over-the-top with her reaction. Janeway is disappointed and frustrated, but no more than that. Still, the full importance of the past is made clear in a well-written ending scene.

Though Janeway and Neelix are the only regulars to get significant attention, the script does a good job of giving everyone a moment. Seven attempts to investigate Janeway's ancestor, but her thinking is too regimented to make much progress. When Janeway is disappointed by what she uncovers, Chakotay points out to her that Shannon was living her own life, not trying to "live up to (Janeway's) expectations." Tom and Neelix have their culture competition. Other crew members talk about their ancestors, including the Doctor, who describes a prize-winning chess program as his "cousin."

Surprisingly, it's Harry Kim of all people who gets the best of the side bits, as he describes an uncle's deep space mission, involving six months of absolute isolation. The descriptions are enough to create an image in the viewer's head as Harry describes them, and Garrett Wang delivers the speech well.


OVERALL:

At first glance, 11:59 seems like a pleasant but inconsequential change of pace. It is a low-stakes story. In the present, Janeway deals with the mild disappointment of an ancestor failing to live up to her imagination. In the past, that same ancestor deals with a nascent romance and a town that desperately wants to sell out to a corporation for a genuinely worthy project. Neither story has any particularly big twists, there is no violence beyond an occasional harsh word, and no lives hang in the balance.

I think it's also going to down as a personal favorite of mine. I enjoyed the story in the past, which was buoyed by fine performances by Mulgrew and Kevin Tighe. I was even more impressed by the present day strand. Many times (see Enterprise's Carbon Creek, which I also enjoyed), these types of episodes throw away the series' present. Here, writer Joe Menosky crafts a full arc for Janeway, while also giving some nice little moments to the supporting cast.

On the whole, I would rate this as a minor triumph - and an episode that left me smiling at the end.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

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5-22. Someone to Watch Over Me.

The Doctor becomes infatuated with Seven.

Original Air Date: Apr. 28, 1999. Teleplay by: Michael Taylor. Story by: Brannon Braga. Directed by: Robert Duncan McNeill.


THE PLOT:

Seven of Nine gets into a heated argument with Torres when she admits that she's been studying her and Tom's relationship as research on "human mating behavior." Since Torres ends the encounter with threats of physical harm, this would have been perfect to help set up her hyper-aggression in Juggernaut; this being Voyager, the confrontation naturally occurs one episode after that, when the issue has theoretically been resolved.

The argument leads a confused Seven to consult with the Doctor, who takes it upon herself to teach her how to date. The Doctor makes a wager with Tom: If Seven brings a date to a reception for an alien ambassador, and actually manages to leave with the same date, then Tom will work double-shifts for a month - but if Seven creates a predictable spectacle, then he will get that same month off.

The reception is for Tomin (Scott Thompson), who represents the Kadi - an ultra-conservative religious race that frowns upon anything that might "inflame the senses." Tomin is here as part of a cultural exchange, visiting Voyager while Janeway and Tuvok beam down to their home planet. He's been left in the care of Neelix, who has developed a strict itinerary for his visit.

But Tomin has little interest in tours of Engineering or in observing his daily prayers. Instead, he wants to sample every sensation Voyager has to offer, from spicy foods to alcohol to amorous holodeck pastimes - until he loudly declares that he wants to stay on Voyager forever!


CHARACTERS:

Capt. Janeway: Only briefly in the episode. She does advise Seven to that she should try dating. Apparently, doing so is only against the rules if you happen to be Harry Kim.

The Doctor: It's always good news when an episode spotlights Robert Picardo's Doctor. Picardo is equally adept at comedy and drama, and he is able to wring the most even from a weak script. Look at the scene in which he shares a singalong with Seven of You Are My Sunshine. He goes through a range of responses as Seven sings: surprise at her vocal quality, then simple enjoyment of the music, and finally - as he watches her - the first stirrings of infatuation. It's a splendid performance, one that helps to keep this fairly mild episode afloat.

Seven of Nine: Jeri Ryan, arguably the show's other most consistent regular, is also very good. When Seven goes on a disastrous date mid-episode, Ryan plays her reactions as someone doing her best to make sense of a foreign concept. Few Star Trek lines have ever been as relatable as her frustration that "dating is a poor means of interaction." She remains blissfully unaware of the Doctor's growing attraction toward her, simply seeing him as a friend who is trying to help her.

Neelix: The "B" plot is a Neelix comedy relief plot, which is usually my cue to start screaming in pain. Except this one mostly works. The comedy isn't particularly funny, but Neelix is surprisingly likable. The key is that he's the straight man. He has seriously and studiously prepared for Tomin's visit, learning all the correct customs and prayer times for his race... only to look on in horror as his charge behaves like an overgrown frat boy. It's a pity Tuvok spends the episode off the ship; one suspects that, after having spent the first three seasons being the designated victim of Neelix's worst tendencies, he might have enjoyed watching the Talaxian's dilemma.


THOUGHTS:

Someone to Watch Over Me is, at least, a much better episode than Juggernaut. It's not a great episode, and I don't really have much to say about it. But at least it was pleasant enough to watch.

"Pleasant" is probably the best descriptor here. The "A" plot borrows a little from My Fair Lady, with the Doctor making a wager to teach Seven social behavior; and a little from Cyrano de Bergerac, with him deliberately trying to guide her into romance even as he falls for her.

It doesn't go very far with either element, however. There might have been some emotional stakes had Seven and the hapless Lt. Chapman (Brian McNamara) actually started a relationship while the Doctor looked on... but their romance is restricted to a single date, with Chapman barely mentioned after that scene. The Doctor's unspoken feelings never really rise beyond infatuation, so there isn't much drama to be wrung from that either.

The "B" plot is also pretty mild. Ethan Phillips and guest star Scott Thompson keep it enjoyable enough - but nothing happens at any point that's unpredictable or even particularly chaotic. Other than a single inappropriate remark to Seven, Tomin essentially spends a couple days of vacation eating too much, drinking too much, and enjoying the company of holographic playmates - which is to say, doing no real harm to anyone. Neelix's frustration is amusing, but it feels like more could have done here.


OVERALL:

In the end, "mild" and "pleasant" are the adjectives that come to mind for Someone to Watch Over Me. It's not a bad episode, and I did not dislike watching it. But there's nothing here that's going to linger in my mind.


Overall Rating: 5/10. Episodes don't come much more average than this.

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5-21. Juggernaut.

Malon Controller Fesek (Ron Canada) and his crewman,
Pelk (Lee Arenberg), leave a mess for Voyager to clean up...

Original Air Date: Apr. 26, 1999.  Written by: Bryan Fuller, Nick Sagan, Kenneth Biller. Directed by: Allan Kroeker.


THE PLOT

An automated distress call leads Voyager to a ruined Malon freighter. They rescue Controller Fesek (Ron Canada), the Malon captain, and bride officer Pelk (Lee Arenberg) from nearby escape pods, only to learn that the freighter is mere hours from exploding and destroying everything within three light years. Though Fesek urges Janeway to flee to safety, she insists on sending a team onto the Malon ship to stop the explosion.

The two Malon survivors beam over with Chakotay, Torres, and Neelix. They must vent the deadly radiation on each deck in order to reach the control room to stop the explosion. But they may not be alone, as one of the Malon fears that a mythical and malevolent beast known as a Vihaar may lurk within the radiation, waiting to strike at the intruders...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Her patience for the Malon seems to be pretty much exhausted by this point. When Fesek insists that he will not risk his life returning to the irradiated, self-destructing ship, Janeway flatly tells him that he can either assist or be returned to his escape pod. Her disdain for the Malon, well-earned in previous encounters, makes her absolute scorn of Fesek palpable, and he wisely does not try to call her bluff. Though she hopes for the Away Team's success, she is realistic enough about their dangerous and difficult mission to prepare a "Plan B."

Chakotay: He does a good job as commander of the Away Team, keeping the party moving but refusing to compromise safety. When one of the Malon claims to have seen a creature in the waste, Chakotay decrees that no member of the team will work alone from that point. When Torres becomes infected with radiation, Chakotay does not allow her to refuse immediate treatment.

Torres: This is a B'Elanna-centric episode - one which insists that her anger issues have her perpetually on the edge of violent outbursts. The script is credited to no less than three writers, none of whom apparently recall that she has been able to control her emotions and deal with crises even when kidnapped by robots or stalked by a psychotic hologram. In short, Juggernaut delivers my least favorite form of "character development": reducing B'Elanna to her single, worst trait so that we can pretend that it's "progress" when she returns to her normal self.

Neelix: Since I'm spending most of this review talking about things that don't work, I'll acknowledge one thing that works very well: The use of Neelix. It's entirely consistent with what we know of his background that he's worked with similar waste disposal systems. This allows him to be a genuine asset rather than the usual buffoonish comic relief. Even his one pure comedy scene, in which he cooks up a foul-tasting brew to protect himself from radiation poisoning, is used to reinforce both his experience in this type of situation and the seriousness of it, as he recalls how this wretched recipe kept himself and his shipmates alive.


MY ORIGINAL POINT OF ABANDONMENT:

This was the last episode of Voyager that I watched in full before stopping the series back in 2017. I emphasize that it did not, on its own, make me stop viewing/reviewing Voyager.  Longtime visitors to this site likely noticed that I posted zero reviews for a 2 - 3 year period, mostly due to a combination of schedule and general burnout. If it hadn't been this episode that stalled my Voyager run, it would have been another one not far down the road.

That said, I have one and only one memory of my first viewing: Sitting down to write this review after the episode. I brought up my template and... proceeded to stare at the screen for several minutes. I genuinely could not think of even one interesting thing to say. Juggernaut is not hilariously dreadful in the manner of Favorite Son, The Fight, or The Disease. It just sort of... occupies space for 45 minutes and then ends.


THOUGHTS

Revisiting this episode now, without the burnout that plagued me at the time, I can see that Juggernaut is at least trying to take the previously one-note Malon and turn them into a society of actual individuals. In earlier episodes, they have simply been polluters and nothing more. This episode attempts to add some depth. It does not make them interesting on its own - but the cues of this script could potentially be used to create something worthwhile later.

Given that all three of the credited writers have penned good scripts, it is disappointing how much this episode relies on Idiot Plotting. The greatest immediate source of jeopardy for the Away Team is that they are working in a heavily irradiated environment. On the mission, however, they wear absolutely no protective gear, relying solely on an inoculation. We have seen crew members use gear in other Trek shows, so it's not like such things don't exist in this universe. Similarly, the transporter obviously functions, or else the crew wouldn't be able to retrieve Chakotay or contemplate sending Tuvok to replace him. So why aren't they beaming rotating overlapping shifts throughout this mission, thus limiting any one crew member's exposure?

These issues could have at least been papered over with a few lines of dialogue. The crew could have planned on using radiation suits, only for Fesek to tell them that the work was too delicate for bulky protective gear. Janeway could have intended to rotate crew, only for the transporter to be unable to penetrate the radiation (with Chakotay's emergency beam-out working, with difficulty, because of Technobabble). This script doesn't even expend that minimal amount of effort, however. There's one Away Team because there is; there's no protective gear because there isn't; and the transporters either work or don't depending on what is convenient for a given scene.

Complications are introduced in the middle, but most of them never build to anything. Each incident is just that - a bit of activity to fill airtime during the middle of the episode. There's a villain reveal at the end; save for some added gruesomeness, this scene would be perfectly at home in a Scooby-Doo episode. The entire finale is ridiculously poor. It's meant to show "character growth" that B'Elanna attempts to speechify... never mind that the urgency of the situation would actually make her (allegedly) normal aggression a more appropriate response.


OVERALL:

After a reasonably promising start, Juggernaut quickly devolves into being simultaneously tedious and stupid. It's not the worst of Voyager; it's not even the worst of the past five episodes (a group that included both The Disease and The Fight). But just because it's not rock bottom doesn't mean it isn't bad.


Overall Rating: 2/10.

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5-5. Once Upon a Time.

Neelix uses a holo-novel to shield his goddaughter from reality.

THE PLOT

Neelix has been entrusted with the care of his goddaughter, young Naomi Wildman (Scarlett Pomers), while her mother, Samantha (Nancy Hower) is on a mission with Tom and Tuvok in the Delta Flyer. In a transmission to Neelix, Samantha reveals that the ship has been damaged by an ion storm and that another storm is approaching. When that second storm leaves the shuttle limping off course, Voyager prepares a rescue mission.

Guided by his own devastation at the deaths of his family members, Neelix decides not to mention the situation to Naomi - at least, not until they have a clearer picture on how much danger the shuttle crew is in. Janeway initially supports this, and Neelix happily distracts Naomi with a fairy tale-like holo-novel set in an enchanted forest. But as the Delta Flyer's situation grows ever more serious, Janeway starts pushing Neelix to tell the child the truth - finally stating that if Neelix doesn't tell her, then she will!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Clearly does sympathize with Neelix's feelings, both his protectiveness of Naomi and his identification with the girl's situation. That doesn't stop her from insisting Neelix reveal the truth when she decides his actions are less for the child and more for himself - But she does deal with him as gently as possible, while still making it clear that she expects him to follow her instructions.

Neelix: His relationship with the Wildmans is carried forward from last season's Mortal Coil. I give points to the show for remembering and building on that. Neelix dodges Naomi's questions about his family, but his grief is evident in both face and tone even as he pretends to the young girl that they're simply "far away." That same sense of loss, remembering how much it hurt him when his family was killed, leads to him shielding Naomi from the truth about her mother's situation, long past the point at which he should be telling her.

TuvoK: Receives one of the episode's most effective moments. When it looks all but certain that she, Tuvok, and Tom will run out of air before rescue comes, she worries about what will become of Naomi. Tuvok, the other parent in the shuttle, manages to be genuinely reassuring without in any way compromising his Vulcan reserve: "My youngest child has been without a father for four years, yet I am certain of her well-being, that I conveyed my values to her before leaving... You have been an exemplary mother to Naomi, and she is in the hands of people you trust. She will survive and prosper, no matter what becomes of us."


THOUGHTS

Glancing around the Internet, it's clear that Once Upon a Time is a badly-regarded episode. I can't argue with many of the criticisms. The holodeck fairy tale, clearly the basis for the episode's title, all but vanishes in the second half; far more interesting narrative use could have been made of continuing the fairy tale through the episode and intercutting it with the Delta Flyer plot. It also is blatantly emotionally manipulative, to the point that you can almost hear writer Michael Taylor (who penned DS9's far superior The Visitor) urging you to be affected, dammit!

All these complaints are valid, and I can't deny them in the slightest. But I have to admit, I enjoyed this episode in spite of that. The manipulations are blatant and heavy-handed... But enough of it does strike a cord. While watching, I found myself rolling my eyes at an extended recording of a deathbed message, but still being affected by the scene even as a part of me mentally mocked it. And the episode's central dilemma - Neelix's emotional turmoil wrestling with a situation that hits so close to home - is perfectly consistent with his overall characterization and is well-played by Ethan Phillips.

I will say that a big part of me wonders if it mightn't have been more interesting had Samantha Wildman died during the mission. That would leave Neelix having to act as a father to Naomi, perhaps allowing his character to develop under this new responsibility - And would also give real emotional consequences to his refusal to tell Naomi the truth. This being Voyager, however, such does not occur, nor does the viewer ever really believe there's any danger of it.

Overall, I can't argue with the episode's poor reputation, but I also can't condemn an episode that I genuinely enjoyed. For all its faults, the story kept me engrossed enough in the character drama to overlook the heavy-handedness. It's too flawed for me to label it a good episode - But I liked it too much to label it a bad one.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: In the Flesh
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5-2. Drone.

Seven and B'Elanna observe as a Borg
drone matures on Voyager!

THE PLOT

B'Elanna, Tom, the Doctor, and Seven are in a shuttlecraft, investigating a proto-nebula, when their shuttle gets caught by a gravimetric surge. Voyager beams them back fast, but distortion from the nebula makes it a difficult transport. The team's patterns briefly merge - Not a lasting problem for the organic crew members, but a big issue for the Doctor's mobile emitter, which begins malfunctioning immediately.

The Doctor is beamed directly to sick bay before his program can fail, and B'Elanna promises to look at the mobile emitter. Before she gets the chance, it becomes clear that Seven's Borg technology has interacted with the device. Within a day, the Borg technology has created a maturation chamber in engineering - Giving birth to a new drone known as "One" (J. Paul Boehmer).

The mobile emitter has its origins in 29th century technology, resulting in "One" being a hyper-advanced Borg drone. Janeway puts Seven in charge of nurturing him, to make him an individual like Seven has herself become. But "One" begins asking questions about its origins and about the Borg Collective, causing Seven to worry about the Borg assimilating him and becoming even more of a threat than they are already!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Janeway: Resists calls to kill the drone before it wakes. She doesn't want to kill unnecessarily, believing that if Seven could become an individual after a lifetime in the Collective, then this drone can surely be raised to be its own individual as well. When "One" begins asking questions about the Borg, Janeway suggests telling him - But she doesn't order Seven to do so, respecting Seven's choice to wait.

Seven of Nine: At Drone's center is a superb performance by Jeri Ryan. She has to walk a fine line in this episode, maintaining Seven's characteristic reserve while infusing an increasing amount of emotion into her scenes with "One." Ryan pulls this off splendidly, and the mother/son relationship that emerges between Seven and "One" convinces in large part because of her performance. It's worth observing that this episode is exactly one season after The Gift, in which Seven's fondest wish was to return to the Borg. Now she is the crew member most adamant about how dangerous the Borg is, and most in fear of the Collective - Having grown to treasure her individuality, she does not want to risk losing it again.

The Doctor: Is obsessively concerned about his mobile emitter when it stops functioning. This is played largely for laughs, with him badgering a sleepy Torres about the status of his emitter. But if you think about it at all, his anxiety is hardly unreasonable. Without that device, he's back to being a prisoner in sick bay and the holodeck - Effectively reduced from full crew member back to being just "the hologram." Even so, once "One" emerges, he ceases to even mention what he's lost. When the drone brings it up, asking if he's unwelcome, the Doctor insists that this is not the case:"Our primary mission is to explore new forms of life. You may have been unexpected but, given time, I am sure you'll make a fine addition to the crew."

Neelix: Though he has only a small role, his basic personality is used very well. Even as the rest of the crew responds warily to the drone's existence, Neelix is entirely open and friendly, completely welcoming. "One" responds to this openness, and when it begins researching data, Talaxian cooking is mixed in with the other, more technical material.

The Borg: It's confirmed that Borg reproduce through assimilation only, but the existence of the maturation chamber gives context to the infants the Enterprise crew found in Q Who? - As assimilated children, connected to a maturation chamber. Once matured, a drone's responses are fully automated - It must absorb data before it can interact in any way other than a pre-programmed scenario. By the episode's end, the Borg are aware of the existence of advanced future technology on Voyager - Something likely to pose a danger in coming episodes.


WOUND THE REDSHIRT!

Ensign Mulcahy (Todd E. Babcock) bears a mention for his stiff competition for a Darwin Award. On arriving at his work station and discovering it glowing green in a way that would be familiar to every Voyager crew member after Scorpion, does he run away while calling security? Or even keep a safe distance while calling security? Why, no! Ensign Imbecile walks merrily into the green glowing room. Fortunately for him, the script wants our sympathies to be with "One," so Mulcahy survives his Borg encounter with his humanity intact... But honestly, if he had died or been assimilated, it would have been his own stupid fault.

Idle question: If the Borg can become more dangerous by assimilating things more advanced, would feeding them a steady diet of idiots make them less dangerous?


THOUGHTS

If Scorpion was Voyager's The Best of Both Worlds, then this episode is its I Borg - a story focused on a single Borg drone, which emerges as a sympathetic individual over the course of the story. I Borg's complexity is replaced with more overt manipulation, and its difficult ending choice is replaced by an action set piece... But then, this is Voyager. And while Drone isn't anywhere near as strong an episode as its TNG counterpart was, it is still a highly effective installment.

The script is credited to Bryan Fuller, Brannon Braga, and Joe Menosky. The strengths of all three shine through, though. It has the fast pace of most of Fuller's scripts, with new elements and complications being built into the situation at every Act break. It also has the high concept of a Braga piece ("Borg baby") and the humanism of Menosky's best work. In short, the three styles mesh instead of clash.

Seven and the Doctor have emerged into a strong character pairing, with Seven disapproving of the Doctor's flippant attitude even as she privately takes on board his "lessons" in interacting with humans. With "One" talking to both of them about him being "born" by accident, the subtext becomes very much that of them being unexpected parents of this drone - Something that works even when the script hits it a bit too hard on the nose.

I do find myself wondering about the casual attitude toward the Doctor's mobile emitter. It's obvious by this point that B'Elanna can repair it when it breaks. Has she even tried to replicate some back-ups? Just a line of dialogue to the effect that the 29th century technology is beyond the ship's ability to reproduce would be enough - As it stands, it looks as if the crew thinks a single mobile emitter is all they need, and that they aren't even trying to provide redundancy for the only piece of technology that allows their only medical officer the ability to go down to planets or even to other parts of the ship!

Overall, and setting comparisons to I Borg to one side, this is a well-scripted, well-acted episode that does its job of creating some genuine emotional investment in a single-episode situation. It also ends with hints of things to come, leaving me actively anticipating the ship's next Borg encounter.

Definitely a good episode.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

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