My VOY reviews

Your place to discuss any Trek that does not fit in the above categories

Moderators: justTripn, Elessar, dark_rain

User avatar
CX
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 3269
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:38 pm

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby CX » Fri Oct 11, 2013 3:24 pm

Can't say I agree with you on Real Life. I found it to be rather cheap and even a bit insulting.
Image

User avatar
Kevin Thomas Riley
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 4336
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:42 am
Show On Map: No
Location: NX-01

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:34 pm

CoffeeCat wrote:LOL. The highest grade goes to a CHAKOTAY episode. Of all things!

Yeah, the irony of that isn't lost on me... :roll:

I like your avatar, KTR. I kinda want to dig into my P/T stash because of you :)

Well, what can I say. I actually prefer B'Elanna as the "babe" of VOY.

*****

3-24 Displaced

This episode is pretty pedestrian. The only novel part was the gradual replacement of crewmembers with aliens, which baffled Janeway and her crew. Why she and her security chief Tuvok weren't more suspicious is rather unforgivable. They should have locked up those aliens more tightly from the start so they couldn't be able to take over the ship.

The escape from the alien holo-habitat was also much too easy. For one thing the place wasn't even guarded much, and we are to believe that numerous other alien races have been held captive for years and none of them have been able to do what the Voyager crew was able to do in a day.

I actually got more enjoyment from the Paris/Torres scenes than anything else in this episode. Especially the quarrel they had while the Doctor looked on, and B'Elanna just shut his speech of, was pretty funny.

It wasn't a total waste though. I was never really bored and it kept me entertained for the duration. It still only receives a grade of 4- on my 10-graded scale.

Image Image Image Image


3-25 Worst Case Scenario

I was surprised at how entertaining Worst Case Scenario was given my oft-stated disdain for the holodeck, and in particular holodeck malfunction™ stories. But the scenario of a Maquis mutiny was much too fun to pass up on. Alas it reminded me of how wasted this potential for crew friction had been on the show. Now we only got to experience it as a kind of fan fiction written by Tuvok - and the late Seska. The episode also reminded me of how much I miss the Seska character.

Two thirds of the episode is devoted to the holo-story and the quest for its anonymous author. I really liked how coy everyone was about having played it, especially at the command meeting where Tuvok revealed that he created the program not as entertainment but as a tactical training exercise.

But then we have the standard malfunction when he and Paris try to write a finish, and Seska's manipulation sets in. How many episodes have now dealt with crew members being trapped in the holodeck with the safeties off? Why do Starfleet keep allowing for these things when they're so hazardous? A minor note is also why Seska would even bother to reprogram this in the hope of the not so plausible event that Tuvok, years later, would try and write more of the story?

And I have to say that mutinous holo-Chakotay actually made a lot of sense in his speech about how they could get home quicker if they didn't stop to investigate every nebula or anomaly, and ditched some of Starfleet rules. Well, he went a bit far when stating "by any means necessary" but the general sentiment still stands.

Anyway, it was still a fun outing that I'll give a grade of 6 out of 10.

Image Image Image Image Image Image
She's got an awfully nice bum!
-Malcolm Reed on T'Pol, in Shuttlepod One

Image

User avatar
Kevin Thomas Riley
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 4336
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:42 am
Show On Map: No
Location: NX-01

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Sat Oct 12, 2013 8:45 pm

3-26 Scorpion, Part I

At last we have entered Borg space. And the first thing we see are some Borg cubes getting blown to smithereens. There really is a species that is more powerful than the Borg. This was a perfect way to introduce the show to the Borg (if you don't count the ex-Borgs of Unity).

Scorpion, Part I is perfect in almost every way - the first truly excellent episode of Voyager. It made the previously rather dull Delta Quadrant interesting again, and gave Voyager a credible, though familiar, foe. And also a new one in the intriguing Species 8472, as the Borg have designated them.

To survive Janeway enters into an uneasy alliance with the Borg. For free passage they will trade their knowledge about using nano-probes, modified by the Doctor, to fight Species 8472. I'm still not sure if that was really clever or just foolish. At least Chakotay disagreed and we got to see some really nice tension between them for a change. He's usually her doormat but here he asserted himself and she seemed surprised that while he would back her decision, he nevertheless didn't agree with her. Given that he's never really done that before, I can understand her bafflement at now being truly alone (otherwise something that comes with being in command). I wish he'd always have been this kind of X.O.

He tells the story of the scorpion that stings the fox it's riding on while being carried across a river. Even if that means the scorpion will die it cannot go against its nature. And so it is with the Borg. While they might temporarily halt assimilation of the Voyager crew in order to fight a common enemy, they're still Borg.

The visuals are outstanding, from the destruction of the Borg cubes, the fifteen cubes just whizzing by Voyager trying to escape the powerful bioships of Species 8472, to the graveyard of debris. Voyager has never looked better. The CGI design of the new aliens was also quite good, especially for its time. They really looked, well, alien. And then there's the chilling pile of dismembered Borg, apparently made from Borg action figures!

The only thing that felt somewhat out of place was the introduction of Janeway's new holo-program with Leonardo da Vinci. But since the old genius was played by the always excellent John Rhys-Davies I'm willing to let that slide.

Scorpion, Part I gets the show's first top grade of 10 from me.

Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image
She's got an awfully nice bum!
-Malcolm Reed on T'Pol, in Shuttlepod One

Image

User avatar
Kevin Thomas Riley
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 4336
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:42 am
Show On Map: No
Location: NX-01

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:27 pm

Season Three overview

After the bad second season things could only get better, but what surprised me when I summed up the grades is that it got so much better than I expected, especially since this season is prior to the arrival of Seven of Nine. The average season grade is an average 5.00. That's even better than the 4.70 I gave The Next Generation's third season, but not as good as Deep Space Nine's third, which got a season average of 5.32.

But there are some really strong episodes, like Unity, Distant Origin and Scorpion. Alas, there are some really bad ones as well, like the atrocious Favourite Son, which got a zero grade, and the Ferengi one, False Profits. But generally the stores are better this season than the previous one. The one that celebrated Star Trek's 30th anniversary, Flashback, was nostalgic fun and also gave some needed background to the character of Tuvok, and I was thoroughly entertained by the time-travelling two-parter Future's End. The appearance of the Borg heightened things.

This far into the show I ceased having hopes for them to utilise their premise more, or for the characters to become more engaging, but this season also proves that the showrunners can tell good stories if they want to. It's too bad that what they often apparently think is good still isn't that good, except on occasion.

The Doctor is still by far the most interesting character, and some of the better episodes focus on him, like when he lost his memory (The Swarm) or got a holographic family (Real Life). The over-the-top Dr. Hyde episode (Darkling) was an exception. I can't say much about the rest that I haven't said before. By the end of the season it came as no surprise that either Kes or Kim would have to go to give room for the new character of Seven of Nine. Both of them were more or less useless and uninteresting. The writers failed to build upon the revelations about Neelix's checkered past in Fair Trade and he remains his annoyingly cheerful self.

I also have to mention the building of the romance between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres that I quite enjoy, especially in the episode Blood Fever. It's often fun and not so in your face. They both have good chemistry. In fact they're my second favourite Trek couple after Trip and T'Pol on Enterprise.

Despite the improvements made it was obvious by the end of the season that it wasn't enough to turn the show around, which is why they introduced the Borg and (by the first episode of the next season) a new regular character. A wise move indeed as it probably saved the show.
She's got an awfully nice bum!
-Malcolm Reed on T'Pol, in Shuttlepod One

Image

User avatar
Linda
Commodore
Commodore
Posts: 3025
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:38 pm
Show On Map: No
Location: South Milwaukee, a quarter mile from Lake Michigan

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Linda » Mon Oct 14, 2013 11:51 pm

I have not seen any Voyager episodes for a couple of years, but I do have the series on DVD. Your reviews are tempting me to go back and rewatch the episodes, especially the ones you rate highest. I miss the rating bums you used for reviewing Star Trek: Enterprise. Don't any of the Voyager characters have a bum worthy of use? :torres: ? :tom: ?
Working on a major fan fic project. Two-thirds done. Hope to put it up in the not TOO distant future.

User avatar
Kevin Thomas Riley
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 4336
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:42 am
Show On Map: No
Location: NX-01

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Tue Oct 15, 2013 12:26 am

Linda wrote:I miss the rating bums you used for reviewing Star Trek: Enterprise. Don't any of the Voyager characters have a bum worthy of use?

:lol: Just wait, season four is just coming up, and with that a new bum-worthy character... ;-)
She's got an awfully nice bum!
-Malcolm Reed on T'Pol, in Shuttlepod One

Image

User avatar
Kevin Thomas Riley
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 4336
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:42 am
Show On Map: No
Location: NX-01

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:21 pm

^ And as you can see below... :mrgreen:

(Also, I'll be going on a business trip for the rest of the week, so no more new reviews until I get back).


Season Four


4-01 Scorpion, Part II

It is rare for second parts on Trek to live up to the first part, but Scorpion, Part II mostly manages to do just that. It's an excellent conclusion to the previous season's cliffhanger, and introduces us to a new member of the crew in Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). That addition is something of a turn-around for Voyager, and despite being labelled things like Barbie of Borg by some, she brings much needed spark to the show. And great-looking features aside, Ryan can act.

Seven getting on board would also mean the departure of another regular, and given Harry Kim's dire Species 8472-infected predicament his character's future was in jeopardy. But the showrunners settled on Kes instead (see next episode The Gift) and Kim made a conveniently rapid recovery. In my mind either of those departures would have worked because neither of them really brought much to the show at that point. But Seven of Nine did, and I think you can safely say that she saved the show.

Anyway, she comes aboard as a Borg liaison, to more effectively communicate with the Voyager crew in constructing a weapon to use against Species 8472. I may be weird but I think that even in heavy Borg getup, she looks somewhat hot (but then I thought the same for Alice Krige's Borg Queen in the First Contact movie). Yeah, I'm a bit sick sometimes!

The reason for introducing her is that Janeway refuses to be temporarily connected to the collective, in a chilling scene that should have told her everything about how tenuous this alliance with the Borg is. So they get Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One (but they may call her Seven of Nine) as a go-between. Oddly enough she's originally human, despite that the chances of that would have been close to nil.

The conflict and disagreement between Janeway and Chakotay is thankfully further elaborated on, as she suffers some serious injuries and is out of commission at a crucial time. Chakotay is now in command and promptly break the alliance he never really believed in. It turns out that was the right call at that moment, but then again it turns out that Janeway was right at the moment she entered the alliance. I suppose that's saying they both ate and kept the cake. Still, Janeway should have taken precautions against the scorpion effect from the start. But when she suddenly recovers they mend fences and proceeds to do just that, which saves them from Borg assimilation once the threat from Species 8472 is dealt with.

If there is anything I can complain about in this episode it has to do with the relative ease and speed in which they manage to inflict damage to Species 8472. The Doctor's modified and weaponized nano-probes works like a charm. The same goes for how unbelievably quickly Janeway and Kim are cured. That reduced the tension despite the ship having entered the "fluidic space" of Species 8472, where they should have been immediately destroyed. Species 8472 could destroy entire planets for Christ's sake! Oh well…

But summing up, I still give Scorpion, Part II a grade of 10-, almost as excellent as part one. (And since Seven of Nine has now joined the show, I change the grades to her awfully nice bum.)

Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image


4-02 The Gift

The Gift has the task of dealing with two plot-lines, the de-assimilation of Seven of Nine and the departure of Kes. The first one is really riveting and engaging, the second one unfortunately gets short-changed.

The scenes between Janeway and Seven are nothing short of stellar. The former Borg drone feels lost and helpless without the collective, and doesn't want to be a real human again. Janeway makes the case for getting Seven her individuality back, and ironically she has to force that upon her. Growing up among the Borg Seven has never really experienced free will, except as a young child named Annika (yay, a Swedish name) Hansen, and now free will will be thrust upon her. At least Seven throws the term hypocrite at Janeway. Jeri Ryan does an excellent job portraying the conflicted Seven here. It's not her fault that the end scene is a bit rushed when Seven suddenly looks like a super model and apparently has accepted her new fate.

The second plot featuring Kes was a big disappointment. Everything happened so quickly and suddenly that there was no breathing room. While we had seen Kes develop mental abilities over the course of the show, in the span of one televised hour she went from minor telekinesis to becoming an energy being. Plot-wise it was all too convenient, especially as she not only left but also hurled Voyager 9,500 light-years away from Borg space, shaving ten years off their trip home. I get that they had to find a reason to ditch the Kes character, but this was much too rushed. There weren't even time for proper good byes. Also, the ship lost not just Kes but another shuttle (the eighth I believe) in the process.

Despite the unsatisfactory Kes story I give The Gift a grade of 8- out of 10.

Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image
She's got an awfully nice bum!
-Malcolm Reed on T'Pol, in Shuttlepod One

Image

User avatar
Kevin Thomas Riley
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 4336
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:42 am
Show On Map: No
Location: NX-01

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Thu Oct 24, 2013 10:36 pm

Sorry with the lack of updates. I've been rather busy at work...


4-03 Day of Honour

Day of Honour is the worst day in B'Elanna Torres's life. At least that's what she states, but I think that's a minor exaggeration. But apart from the ending it really isn't a good day. But it is for the viewer. I liked the episode quite a bit. It focused on B'Elanna but also on her relationship with Tom Paris, which I both enjoy, and then there was Seven of Nine trying to integrate to the crew.

This was also the only B'Elanna-centred episode this season because Roxann Dawson got pregnant, and they decided not to incorporate that into the show. So unfortunately we'll see less of her now. But here she was used wisely, lamenting over her Klingon heritage. I like the fact that she, as half-Klingon, isn't prone to spout the usual Klingon lines of being a warrior and having honour. In fact she can hardly accept it, as witnessed by her behaviour on the holodeck trying to do the Day of Honour ritual.

This is also the episode were she admits her love for Tom Paris, and while the dying declaration setting, with them both being stranded in space with oxygen running out, might sound like a cliché, it is surprisingly effective and believable. Kudos to Jeri Taylor, who wrote the script, and the actors Roxann Dawson and Robert Duncan McNeill for making that work. But couldn't they have gotten to that scene without destroying yet another shuttle (the ninth)?

Seven has trouble adapting to being a useful crewmember and the others are understandably sceptical, if not outright hostile (like Torres for instance). That must be painful for her, since she's not used to be alone but the ones she'd strive to be part of rejects her. She doesn't let that show though, retaining much of her even Borg temper. And while Jeri Ryan is a very beautiful woman, I find her silvery costume extremely distracting, especially her, ehum, forward protruding appendices. There really is no need to enhance what is already naturally given her. It just looks silly.

Even though they've travelled 9,500 light-years there's still Borg activity around, which tells you about their vast range. Here we have the desperate remnants of a people that have suffered from them and now want more help than Voyager are willing or able to give. I can feel for them, but getting hostile with Voyager is the limit. Still, the solution is very Trekkian, in that they decide to help them anyway, this time using Borg knowledge from Seven, whom the aliens wanted to exact revenge on just prior.

The fourth season has had a very good start indeed, as I give a grade of 8 to Day of Honour.

Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image


4-04 Nemesis

I guess it was inevitable. After a stretch of really good episodes they had to serve up a very mediocre one. They even left out the intriguing new character of Seven of Nine in this instalment and gave us Chuckles of all people!

I couldn't care less about the stupid war he got caught in - after having downed the tenth Voyager shuttle. Come on, this is silly! Where do they get all those disposable shuttles from? A giant replicator?

It was a big let-down to learn that Chakotay's experiences had all been imagined and induced by aliens as a way to learn to hate the enemy. I suppose this was done as a message about how insidious indoctrination can work, but it felt like a cop out. And the tactics makes no sense. Far too much energy is spent on luring stray shuttle pilots (and everyone else who crosses their paths) to believe that this is a war worth fighting.

I fully expected, and was proven right, that Janeway on Voyager would ally herself with those supposedly beastly "nemesis" aliens. I think the episode would have worked better if it had been revealed that both sides had committed equally horrifying atrocities. For all we know, that might even have been the case.

The closing scene is somewhat powerful though, with Chakotay having trouble to look the "beastly" ambassador in the eye, despite knowing that it had all been a ruse.

I'll give a grade of 2+ to Nemesis. (No Sevens bums as she didn't appear in this episode.)

Image Image
She's got an awfully nice bum!
-Malcolm Reed on T'Pol, in Shuttlepod One

Image

CoffeeCat
Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Posts: 1316
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:57 am
Show On Map: No
Location: Gill, MA

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby CoffeeCat » Tue Oct 29, 2013 10:50 pm

KTR, I've always thought that 7of9's costume was a bad idea. Here you have a show that has a female lead that would naturally attract a female audience, so what to they do? They stick a Borg barbie right in a tight shiny costume to... what? Annoy their female fan base. Still seems pretty dumb to me. If you have a niche, you should stick to it and stop trying to please everyone. For this reason, I've always thought of Voyager as the McDonalds of Star Trek.

And I still love the character, BTW.
Writing as TrekPyro.

User avatar
Kevin Thomas Riley
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 4336
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:42 am
Show On Map: No
Location: NX-01

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Kevin Thomas Riley » Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:38 pm

Well, the 15 year-old kid in me (I suspect he will never go away, and now I'm 45) have always liked 7of9's catsuits, and T'Pol's even more. I know they're somewhat ridiculous but I cannot work myself up about it, and I just keep admiring the view.

I'll admit that 7of9's silver outfit was rather silly - the other ones were much better. Likewise with T'Pol's brownish carpet catsuit in seasons 1-2. The coloured ones, and the white one, were much, much better.
She's got an awfully nice bum!
-Malcolm Reed on T'Pol, in Shuttlepod One

Image

User avatar
Asso
Site Donor
Posts: 6336
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:13 am
Show On Map: No
Location: Italy
Contact:

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Asso » Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:42 pm

I'm older, evidently (or maybe younger?).
Yeah, because I think the same way.
Well yes. I continue to write. And on Fanfiction.Net, for those who want, it is possible to cast a glance at my latest efforts. We arrived to
The Ears of the Elves, chapter Forty-four


And here is the beginning of the whole story.
Image

But, I must say, you could also find something else on Fanfiction.net written by me. If you want.

Cogito
Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Posts: 1886
Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2010 8:46 pm
Show On Map: No
Location: England

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Cogito » Fri Nov 01, 2013 2:36 am

Ahem, me too. :oops:

Watching the re-runs, I can't help noticing that T'Pol spends a lot of time just barely in the frame, even when she isn't the center of attention. Well, parts of her are just barely in the frame, anyway.

Distracted
Site Donor
Posts: 5036
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:19 am
Show On Map: No
Location: Lafayette, LA

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Distracted » Fri Nov 01, 2013 1:25 pm

I'm thinking what we have here is simply the het female vs the het male viewpoint, and that we'll all just have to agree to disagree. : )
Image sig by chrisis1033

User avatar
Asso
Site Donor
Posts: 6336
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:13 am
Show On Map: No
Location: Italy
Contact:

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby Asso » Fri Nov 01, 2013 2:50 pm

I rather think that, though apparently it doesn't seem so, in reality, we are quite agree. :D
Well yes. I continue to write. And on Fanfiction.Net, for those who want, it is possible to cast a glance at my latest efforts. We arrived to
The Ears of the Elves, chapter Forty-four


And here is the beginning of the whole story.
Image

But, I must say, you could also find something else on Fanfiction.net written by me. If you want.

CoffeeCat
Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Posts: 1316
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:57 am
Show On Map: No
Location: Gill, MA

Re: My VOY reviews

Postby CoffeeCat » Fri Nov 01, 2013 4:32 pm

LOL. If anyone was arguing, I was certainly oblivious to it.
Writing as TrekPyro.


Return to “Other Trek”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests