My VOY reviews

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

And I don't even like the Kazons...

Because they're basically dumbed down Klingons with bad hairdos?

Exactly!

*****

2-16 Meld

Brad Dourif totally steals the show in Meld as the calm and collected psychopath Lon Suder, who committed a random act of murder of a crewmember just because he didn't like the way he looked at him. Never have we seen a character like this on Trek before and that is very appealing to me. Naturally he's not a human since humans in the 24th century are "evolved", so he's made a Betazoid. But that really works better not just because of those creepy black eyes, but who other than a telepathic Betazoid could influence a Vulcan the way he does.

Every Trek show that has Vulcans must inevitably have at least one episode that deals with them losing their emotional suppression. Spock did, Sarek did, T'Pol did and this is Tuvok's turn. Even though he's my least favourite Vulcan I thought Tim Russ did an excellent job here. Finally we got to see some depth to his otherwise boring stoic stiff.

I found it fascinating to have an episode that dealt with aspects of seemingly mindless violence and the workings of an intelligent but extremely disturbed mind. They glossed over the discussion about the death penalty, and maybe that was wise. However what should they do with a violent criminal when the trip home takes 70 odd years? They can't just dump him off lest he'd go on a killing spree in the Delta quadrant so they have to lock him up indefinitely, and allow him to be a drain on their limited resources. As it happens, it turns out they lucked out on that one (see Basics, Part I and II).

While Tuvok strangling holo-Neelix was disturbing I can't help feeling gratified in a macabre sort of way. Come on, I dare any viewer who didn't want to strangle Neelix at one point of another!

The b-plot about a more rebellious Tom Paris running a betting pool on the holodeck would've been unforgettable if it wasn't part of a set up for later developments.

I'll go out on a limb and give Meld a grade of 8- out of 10.




2-17 Dreadnought

This is the third episode centred on B'Elanna Torres and I certainly don't mind. Oddly enough she once again gets to confront herself (the first was in Faces), this time in the form of the intelligent missile she once programmed with her own voice as a Maquis. It was funny watching her trying to essentially outwit herself, even if it got repetitive after a while.

The episode isn't remarkable but fairly average. The plot reminded me of other Trek episodes, especially The Ultimate Computer from the original series, but also of HAL 9000 from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

If the writers had any guts they would've allowed for that alien planet to be destroyed by the Dreadnought, but this is modern Trek and they don't do that. But imagine the dramatic possibilities if they all had to live with consequences of that, especially Torres.

B'Elanna also had a nice moment with Tom when they talked about his rebellious behaviour. There is chemistry there. As for Tom Paris, this is obvious a set up for a later pay off, as the previous instances where he behaved strange. For a new viewer it must seem confusing.

So I'll give an average grade of 5 out of 10 for Dreadnought.




2-18 Death Wish

Although John de Lancie is a great actor, I've never liked his character of Q. He's usually a big annoyance whenever he shows up. Sisko punched him in the face when he showed up on Deep Space Nine, but Janeway is more polite.

However this is the first time I can recall a Q episode that's actually pretty decent and, dare I say, interesting. Of course it's not without the usual trickster shenanigans, but for once the Q continuum and its inhabitants are treated as more than obnoxious persons with God-like powers.

The episode deals with Quinn (as he eventually will be called), a member of the continuum, who wants to commit suicide. He's tired of the immortal life and feels, rightly, that the Q continuum has stagnated. The story deals less with the moral dilemma of suicide, assisted or otherwise, than with the implications of immortality. And that's a wise choice in my mind.

It raises interesting philosophical questions. Do we really want to live forever if we think really hard about it? And what would happen to a society of immortals? The visualisation, for the benefit of Janeway and Tuvok, of the Q continuum as a desert road and a worn down house with silent, bored people is quite clever and gets the point home. They have literally all been there and none that, and nothing is left.

Death Wish gives needed depth to both Q and the continuum. Even Q is taken by Quinn's argument, probably because he himself has been something of a rebel before (getting cast out of the continuum on The Next Generation episode Dejà Q). I just wish they'd stayed away from the cameo appearance of Riker, Sir Isaac Newton and some hippie that served no real purpose.

The main problem with having Q on Voyager (and he will return) is that he so easily could send them home, but mustn't lest the show would be over. This is already apparent in this episode when he shows Earth outside the window in the ready room. The reasons for him not helping them (besides being a prick) will become more contrived for each appearance.

I'll give a grade of 6 out of 10 to Death Wish.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

2-19 Lifesigns

Normally I'm not a fan of romance-of-the-week™ stories but Lifesigns is an exception. It's a delightful and moving little tale about how the Doctor found love. The problem is that the lady in question is a disease-riddled Vidiian and it's clear from the start that this will only be a romantic interlude no matter what happens to her.

The concept of having a patient's consciousness transferred to a holo-program was novel, although it was accomplished with surprising ease. But then again they can make holographic lungs, so who am I to argue.

Robert Picardo manages to avoid what could easily have become embarrassing and awkward and instead I found it all very sweet. And Denara Pel is a lovely lady but, as the story shows us, her beauty isn't just holo-skin-deep. In fact physically her real self has the Phage but that doesn't matter to the Doctor. The episode also managed to elicit sympathy for the Vidiians. Not everyone is like the Vidiians from Faces.

They continue with the Rebellious Paris/Treacherous Jonas subplot. I know the payoff but this is really the limit on how far they can stretch out that storyline.

Lifesigns receives a grade of 7- from me.




2-20 Investigations

Finally the minor story arc with Paris and the traitor gets resolved. While it was entertaining I cannot help but feel both a little disappointed and underwhelmed. It's much too tidy and it lacks proper suspense. We all know that Jonas is the traitor after all.

The plot orchestrated by Janeway and Tuvok to flush out the traitor hinges on a lot of convenient coincidences that frankly defies belief. How could they be so certain that the Kazons would take the bait, i.e. Paris, as soon as he left the ship? And of course Seska left him in a control room with access to the computer instead of locking him up in a cell, which would've been more prudent. Paris even manages to escape and steal a shuttlecraft.

Neelix as an investigative reporter, with a daily TV show, was surprisingly tolerable, but a bit overdone. I did like his fight with Jonas though, that conveniently killed the traitor. I never knew Neelix had that in him. But what does it say about Tuvok's security that Neelix was the one who was able to crack the case in just an episode when Tuvok had been trying for weeks, if not months.

Still, for sheer entertainment value, I'll give Investigations a grade of 4+ out of 10.




2-21 Deadlock

Despite my oft stated misgivings about reset button™ episodes, I quite enjoyed Deadlock. But then again, it's really not a proper reset. Sure both Kim and the Wildman baby remains alive, but they way they did that was pretty clever I thought - the only survivors from the duplicate Voyager!

In fact the plot with the two Voyagers was well done, and the episode went along in a frisk pace. My only real complaint is the staggering amount of technobabble to explain why this happened and how the different solutions would work.

I was surprised that it was the most badly hurt Voyager that survived, while the other one was so overrun by organ-stealing Vidiians that that Janeway had to initiate the self-destruct. Unfortunately, despite all the damage the surviving ship got, Tuvok even had a run down list with all the beatings they'd taken that surely must have called for a trip to a drydock, it will promptly and inexplicably be repaired by the next episode.

This is one of my main complaints about Voyager; the showrunners never bother to treat severe conditions while being lost 70,000 light-years from home seriously. So how are we as viewers going to take the show seriously?

I'll give Deadlock a grade of 6 on my 10-graded scale.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

2-22 Innocence

Please no, not another bunch of annoying children on Trek! But here they are, and who better to annoy for a televised hour than grumpy Tuvok? Nothing much else happens as the story plods along at a snail's pace.

The twist ending is that those kids aren't really kids but old people about to die, but they're from a species that has reverse aging. Wait, what? That's utterly ludicrous for all sorts of reasons, biological, evolutionary, you name it. I could give it points for originality but there are limits. It makes no effing sense!

I did like the first diplomatic encounter with the alien representatives on Voyager, but that's about it. Why didn't the alien leader just tell them what it was all about? Well, because then there'd be no story and everything would have been resolved by the first act.

Still, there were two moving bits. First I thought the random redshirt death was done well. And second, the last scene with Tuvok and the little girl was somewhat touching.

But this cannot save Innocence from a mere grade of 2- out of 10.




2-23 The Thaw

Well, this episode was decidedly a weird outing, and I'm afraid not a very good one. It's just too strange, and the Clown character too annoying. It's also dragged out and repetitive.

I'll admit that Michael McKean did a very good job as the Fear clown but the character was just so obnoxious. The concept of him having been created by the fears of the aliens in stasis is interesting, as is the way Janeway eventually defeated him, but it's not enough to make an entire episode.

Sending in the Doctor, who couldn't be affected, was clever but one has to wonder why they didn't do that in the first place, since there was no telling what dangers awaited once hooked up to the matrix. In the end they sent in a holographic representation of Janeway, which couldn't be affected either.

I'm sorry to say that I cannot thaw out more than a grade of 3 out of 10 for The Thaw.




2-24 Tuvix

I've seldom been as angry with a Trek episode as I was with Tuvix. It's one of those occasions when we're supposed to take the morals of one of the main characters at face value as something inherently good, even when it's patently obvious that it's not. In fact I think it's quite the opposite. Janeway's decision in the end was morally corrupt and the episode doesn't even try to make me feel otherwise. It's right because she says so! No, it most certainly is not.

A transporter malfunction™ creates a person by combining Tuvok and Neelix - Tuvix. For all intents and purposes Tuvix is a real sentient being with as much right to live as anyone else. Yet, Janeway take it upon herself to kill him so Tuvok and Neelix, two persons that are effectively dead by this point, can be restored. How is that in any shape or form morally defensible? Poor Tuvix was right when he called her out on the fact that she was going to murder him.

Not only is Janeway a homicidal bitch here, she's also a dictator. She doesn't take counsel from anyone, except Kes, who of course is biased in that she loves Neelix. It was absolutely chilling to watch as Tuvix pleaded for his life to the bridge crew while stern-faced Janeway looked on.

I've heard arguments that "the good of the many outweigh they need of the few, or the one" but we mustn't forget that Kirk himself rejected that notion when he went to retrieve Spock in The Search for Spock. Also, I find the underlying utilitarianism of that utterly repugnant. It's even easier to reject it here as there are no two other persons to consider. Tuvok and Neelix ceased to exist the moment Tuvix was created. There was no way they could even be certain that the restoration procedure would work, as it had never been tried before. And even if their bodies might be retrieved, how could they know that their minds would be? Those uncertainties didn't bother Janeway though. She just hoped she would get one of her oldest friends back.

Some people have also defended Janeway's decision by saying that Tuvix was a creepy, selfish and cowardly creature. I'm sorry, but even if he was, since when has that been a reason for the death penalty? Tuvix was a person in his own right and deserved to live, had the right to live in fact, and Janeway executed him in cold blood. I have never been able to forgive Janeway for this. The only person who acted with his moral compass intact here was the Doctor, who refused to carry out the procedure against the express will of Tuvix. A doctor should do no harm after all, let alone commit an act of calculated murder.

Still, I have to compliment actor Tim Wright for his performance as Tuvix. He really was a believable blend of Tuvok and Neelix, and yet managed to make Tuvix a real and separate character.

I guess I also could recognise that the episode did create an interesting moral conundrum that still has viewers and fans arguing about it. Following those arguments I'm really astounded that so many apparently side with Janeway. For me this isn't a moral dilemma at all. It's perfectly clear - Tuvix was a real person that didn't deserve to get killed.

I will be generous enough and give Tuvix a grade of 3- but nothing more since I cannot forgive it for coming to such a blatantly wrong conclusion.

[CoffeeCat]

Incidentally, I just watched Equinox and Janeway is just horrible in it. You'll see what I mean once you get there.
If ever I wanted to smack a Captain, it was during that episode. When I finish Voyager, I'm going straight to Enterprise just so I can compare her to Archer and decide which Captain is actually worse. I think it just might be Captain Janeway.

[CX]

I'd actually argue that "The Thaw" was one of the better episodes of VOY, personally.

[CoffeeCat]

I'm with KTR. I tend to think "The Thaw" was very overrated. As if the evil clown thing has never been done. I think it was a missed opportunity. If you're going to do an episode about fear, they should have put a little more thought into actually scaring their viewers. It was also a missed opportunity for some Harry Kim character development. What was he afraid of? Wandering off in a hospital and seeing something gory? Couldn't that be just about any character?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Incidentally, I just watched Equinox and Janeway is just horrible in it. You'll see what I mean once you get there.
If ever I wanted to smack a Captain, it was during that episode. When I finish Voyager, I'm going straight to Enterprise just so I can compare her to Archer and decide which Captain is actually worse. I think it just might be Captain Janeway.

Hm, you're probably right. As much as I dislike Archer, at least he's pretty consistent. Insaneway is just all over the place.

I'm with KTR. I tend to think "The Thaw" was very overrated. As if the evil clown thing has never been done. I think it was a missed opportunity. If you're going to do an episode about fear, they should have put a little more thought into actually scaring their viewers. It was also a missed opportunity for some Harry Kim character development. What was he afraid of? Wandering off in a hospital and seeing something gory? Couldn't that be just about any character?

Yeah, it was pretty hard to be scared and frightened with the weird circus studio atmosphere in that episode. A more lovecraftian place, for example, would've worked much better.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

2-25 Resolutions

I have watched Voyager before, but this is an episode I cannot recall ever having seen before. I guess it's probably one of the few that somehow escaped me when it initially aired. Not that I missed much…

I'm well aware of the Janeway/Chakotay 'shippers out there, it's just that I've never really seen it and besides, I don't care. Neither of them are among my favourite characters, so how could I possibly be invested in their relationship? I suppose the showrunners thought that Resolutions would be their way of throwing the J/Cers a bone, simultaneously having their cake and eat it too. I didn't work.

Having Janeway and Chakotay stranded on a planet is clichéd as it is, and it doesn't develop much beyond that. Since we know they'll be back as Captain and First Officer by the end of the episode, their relationship cannot progress beyond innuendo. The shippers might squeal at the touching and the backrubs but I found it eye-rollingly boring.

In a way I can say that they both deserved to be stranded, considering what happened in the previous episode (Janeway murdering Tuvix and Chakotay not interfering). But no, instead the crew seems to cease functioning properly, which I find both strange and unprofessional. Nothing should stand and fall for a supposedly well-trained crew because of the loss of the two most senior officers. So they get grumpy and question acting Captain Tuvok's sensible orders.

But Tuvok was right all the way. The Vidiians aren't to be trusted and they led them into an all too predictable trap. It was just blind luck (in the shape of Denara Pel from Lifesigns) that they managed to get hold of the insta-cure™ needed for Janeway and Chakotay.

So I'll award Resolutions with a grade of 2- out of 10. And that's one point just for another look at the Vidiians.




2-26 Basics, Part I

As cliffhangers go, Basics, Part I is all right I suppose. It's nothing earth-shattering and there are way better season endings in Trek than this one, but it gets the job done and sets up for the conclusion next season.

My biggest gripe is that they had to make the command crew, Janeway and Chakotay in particular, exceptionally dumb, even for Voyager, to walk into the obvious Kazon trap. Of course Seska was throwing a bait (in the shape of her child) and even if they suspected it they still took no real precautions. They just went in, phasers firing, and hoped they could outmatch a Kazon fleet. They even bring aboard an injured Kazon not bothering to thoroughly check him out, and leaving him more or less unguarded. He then promptly blows himself up.

When the Kazons finally take over the ship it all goes so swiftly one really has to question the competence of the command crew. And then for some inexplicable reason the Kazons don't kill them but stand them all on some primordial planet, which looks suspiciously like it's just an hours drive out of L.A. (sans the volcanoes).

Still, the action pieces are enjoyable to watch, and it's always nice to see Seska again. But the main surprise comes from the re-appearance of Lon Suder, the sociopath from Meld, who is now imprisoned in his quarters trying, with the help of Tuvok, to overcome his violent nature. Again, Brad Dourif does an excellent job in the role. Interestingly enough, he's the only crewmember left on the ship (with the Doctor) after the Kazon takeover.

I'll give Basics, Part I a grade of 6+ out of 10.

[CoffeeCat]

I can't ship for J/C after seeing our Captain in action during season 5. Chakotay should run screaming out the nearest airlock.

[Alelou]

I shipped for J/C, mostly in a desperate attempt to work up some actual interest in the series and maybe also to try to find a way to find Janeway tolerable. (My bid failed. Guess it's a good thing I bailed before Season 5. I came back to see the finale -- which I thought was pretty decent, actually -- and was just in disbelief that they'd put 7 of 9 together with Chakotay. I don't know if they developed that during the series but I'm glad I missed it.)

The way they handled that 'ship is part of the reason I'm so grateful for Enterprise allowing TnT to actually develop a complicated but genuine relationship over time that the show only mauled occasionally -- not counting *the_abomination*.

[panyasan]

2-24 Tuvix

I've seldom been as angry with a Trek episode as I was with Tuvix. It's one of those occasions when we're supposed to take the morals of one of the main characters at face value as something inherently good, even when it's patently obvious that it's not. In fact I think it's quite the opposite. Janeway's decision in the end was morally corrupt and the episode doesn't even try to make me feel otherwise. It's right because she says so! No, it most certainly is not.

A transporter malfunction™ creates a person by combining Tuvok and Neelix - Tuvix. For all intents and purposes Tuvix is a real sentient being with as much right to live as anyone else. Yet, Janeway take it upon herself to kill him so Tuvok and Neelix, two persons that are effectively dead by this point, can be restored. How is that in any shape or form morally defensible? Poor Tuvix was right when he called her out on the fact that she was going to murder him.

Not only is Janeway a homicidal bitch here, she's also a dictator. She doesn't take counsel from anyone, except Kes, who of course is biased in that she loves Neelix. It was absolutely chilling to watch as Tuvix pleaded for his life to the bridge crew while stern-faced Janeway looked on.

I always find it puzzling that some inventions would not stir up more discussion in Trek, like the transporter. While it does have great advances, breaking up your body in a million pieces seems pretty dangerous to me. Enterprise did an episode about the fear of the transporter, but more or less glossed over the risks. Now here we have a real troublesome malfunction of the transporter and it never goes about Tuvix as a person, but the sadness of losing friends. I didn't find Tuvix a horrible person and like KTR pointed out - more attention should be paid of a person putting to death instead of treating the whole thing as the normal way to go.

BTW, your review, KTR made me wonder what you thought of Ent's Similitude. Not a big fan of cloning myself (DS9 states that it's illegal under the Federation - so there has been some discussion) and really liking Sim and Trip - Archer is pressuring Sim as well "to give up his life" for Trip. In the end, Sim makes the decision out of love, but there's still a lot of "buts"' here.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

I shipped for J/C, mostly in a desperate attempt to work up some actual interest in the series and maybe also to try to find a way to find Janeway tolerable.

I wasn't really a shipper on Trek (or pretty much at all) until TnT, but I remember rooting for Paris/Torres.

(My bid failed. Guess it's a good thing I bailed before Season 5. I came back to see the finale -- which I thought was pretty decent, actually -- and was just in disbelief that they'd put 7 of 9 together with Chakotay. I don't know if they developed that during the series but I'm glad I missed it.)

Nope, no development. It came out of nowhere at the last minute, which pissed a lot of people off.

I always find it puzzling that some inventions would not stir up more discussion in Trek, like the transporter. While it does have great advances, breaking up your body in a million pieces seems pretty dangerous to me. Enterprise did an episode about the fear of the transporter, but more or less glossed over the risks.

Yeah, if you think about it, what a transporter does is it basically kills a person while it makes a copy of him or her. Dr. McCoy on TOS ha a scepticism about transporters. I for one would have liked to not have any transporters at all on ENT.

BTW, your review, KTR made me wonder what you thought of Ent's Similitude. Not a big fan of cloning myself (DS9 states that it's illegal under the Federation - so there has been some discussion) and really liking Sim and Trip - Archer is pressuring Sim as well "to give up his life" for Trip. In the end, Sim makes the decision out of love, but there's still a lot of "buts"' here.

Well, Similitude was a great TnT episode, even if Trip technically wasn't in it much. But I really think it was unethical to create Sim just so they could harvest his tissue. I'm not a fan of cloning either. Then there's the silly part of him for inexplicable reasons getting Trip's memories, which ought to have been impossible. You might clone a physical body, but the mind, not so much.

[Asso]

Well, Similitude was a great TnT episode, even if Trip technically wasn't in it much. But I really think it was unethical to create Sim just so they could harvest his tissue. I'm not a fan of cloning either. Then there's the silly part of him for inexplicable reasons getting Trip's memories, which ought to have been impossible. You might clone a physical body, but the mind, not so much.

Well said.

[CoffeeCat]

Ah yes... Similitude... Now I remember why I thought Archer was insane. Maybe I was wrong to think Janeway was worse. They might actually be tied.

[Asso]

Ah yes... Similitude... Now I remember why I thought Archer was insane. Maybe I was wrong to think Janeway was worse. They might actually be tied.