Originally posted on BondandBeyond from May 02 2011 to Jun 23 2011
"Basics, Part II"
A fun, mindless action-packed follow up to the season 2 cliffhanger. It basically kills off every loose end from Season 2, setting us on our way to Season 3 free of any plot related burdens. I do think it was an annoying cop-out to have the child be Culluh's though, because that doesn't really match up with Season 2 episodes and it certainly wasn't the original intent. It's just a cheap way to get rid of the kid and not deal with him or Chakotay's feelings -- despite that being one of the main themes of Part I. Originally the idea was that the kid would die and Seska would suffer from the loss -- but that left Seska and Culluh around and Taylor and Berman wanted to be free of the Kazons. So they killed Seska and had Culluh take the kid that was now suddenly his, just to be free of all of Piller's characters and storylines, since this was the last episode he wrote. I think it would have been more interesting if the kid had died, and the crew captured Seska and flew away from the Kazons, and had to figure out how to bring Seska to justice -- all of which was I believe Piller's original intent.
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,267.1 lightyears
"Sacred Ground"
And people claim that DS9 went against Roddenberry's principles? For fuck's sake! This episode was frustrating, trite, and stupid. It's message seems to be either 1) If you encounter something you can't explain, why bother? Aren't mysteries wonderful? or 2) If you believe hard enough, you can avoid death. Who needs technology?
Fuuuuuuuuck.
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,236.3 lightyears
"False Profits"
While following up a strand from a third season TNG episode is cool, the fact that the problem was solved in the first act ruined the show. Literally Janeway had the Ferengi in custody and a stable, open wormhole to the Alpha Quadrant to fly through, and she LET herself get talked into ruining everything by said Ferengi, and spent the rest of the episode trying to trick her way back to where she had already gotten by way of a serious of tiresome scenes. The entire final act made me want to tear my hair out -- once again we've got the Ferengi in custody and can fly home, yet somehow they overpower the guards, somehow get into their shuttle, somehow exit the shuttlebay and evade the tractor beam, and for some reason them going through the wormhole F***S it for us. Way to go, Janeway! Fuuuuuck!!
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,225.1 lightyears
"Flashback"
VOY's celebration episode of the 30th anniversary of Trek has 3 massive problems:
1) Tuvok's repressed memory turns out to be a virus, which means the experience has no meaning for him, no personal growth, there is no drama, we learn nothing about Tuvok we didn't already know.
2) Our protagonists (Janeway and Tuvok) do not actually solve the problem through any of their mucking about on the Excelsior, the Doctor solves it just fine from the confines of the Holodeck.
3) The Excelsior sequences, partially due to the above 2 points, actually have nothing to do with the story. They are there to fit the 30th anniversary theme, but the story isn't about that. So they seem superfluous. On that note, a lot of lip service is paid to nostalgia for the past and having fun with the maverick early Starfleet officers, but the audience never actually feels any of that because the entire Tuvok/virus story, which has nothing to do with the Excelsior, is hanging over all of it.
Basically, this episode is great because we get to see more of Captain Sulu in action, which is cool. But it totally fails in comparison to "Trials and Tribble-ations" [DS9].
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,205.8 lightyears
"The Chute"
Okay, this episode is pretty good, except for all the cutaways to Janeway and the ship, which were terrible. As cool as it was for Janeway to come down the Chute with a phaser rifle blazing, this is ANOTHER case o the protagonists (Kim and Paris) not actually solving the problem. Although it's at least nice to see Kim DOING something for once. Have I mentioned that I officially HATE Janeway now?? Somewhere in season 2 the effects of being stranded in the Delta Quadrant got to her and she's split into her 2 personalities and is now crazy, irresponsible, and a terrible captain. I fucking hate her.
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,194 lightyears
"Remember"
Ever notice how the only way VOY can tell interesting stories is when they AREN'T happening to our people? But seriously, this episode has good intentions, with its Holocaust allegory, but confuses the entire issue by making Jews into Amish people, and not giving the Nazis a reason to exterminate them. It would actually be EASIER and less costly to re-settle them (the cover story) than kill all of them. It's an imperfect allegory because it doesn't fully understand why the Holocaust happened. But I suppose it's an okay episode. Although, Torres uses Janeway's exact reasoning from "False Profits" on why they should interfere, but THIS time Janeway will absolutely not do so. FUCK.
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,175.7 lightyears
"The Swarm"
The parts where Holo-Zimmerman interacted with Holo-Doc (aka Robert Picard playing opposite himself) were GENIUS. And the idea that the Doc being active for 2 years and fillling his program with making friends and learning opera is degrading his memory is great, logical, and makes sense at this point in the show. Which makes it all the worse that the entire rest of this episode was FUCKING TERRIBLE. It was like the entire crew took RETARDED PILLS this morning. Janeway was insufferable, especially. She gives a speech where she justifies her actions (which endanger the entire crew needlessly) by saying that they are a long way from the Alpha Quadrant and Starfleet rules don't apply in their situation. AKA THE EXACT FUCKING OPPOSITE OF HER POSITION THROUGH THE ENTIRE SECOND SEASON where we had to follow Starfleet principles despite everything, lest we forget who we are or something like that. FOR FUCK'S SAKE! And then the ending, which says the Doc has forgotten everything, but has a hope of remembering things. Why the hell would you write that ending when you have NO intention of following it up? It's like what happened to Uhura in "The Changeling" [TOS] but I forgive that because it was the 60s. Goddamnit!!
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,156.4 lightyears
While seasons 1 and 2 of VOY were frustrating, or subpar, they were at least mediocre. Okay. Following the premise, however loosely. But so far season 3 has tossed the baby out with the bathwater and been fucking terrible. I trace it to the departure of Michael Piller. "Basics, Part II" was a farewell to all his storylines, characters, and concepts, and now we're just doing stories week by week, hit and miss, mostly miss. It feels like the writers of DS9 do what they do because they love the show, and the writers of VOY do it because it's a job and they want to get paid. There's no passion. And it shows onscreen.
"Future's End, Parts I & II"
Time travel is confusing. The plot is a little more than an excuse for the fun here. But in times it feels like the fun is padded to make this a two parter. And it doesn't help that all of the "lol, it's the characters from Star Trek in the present day!" gags were for the most done before, and better, by the Original Series in two episodes and a very popular movie. This episode is fun, but it's light and meaningless (and derivative) fun. Ratings grab.
# of Crew: 144 Total -- 128 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,027.1 lightyears
"Warlord"
This episode goes down as the point where I officially became fed up with Neelix. We are done professionally. Meanwhile, the best part of this episode is Jennifer Lien's performance. You can tell she's having a lot of fun, and I love the dominating, sexy, arrogant portrayal she created for Tieran. It's a damn shame her career went nowhere after being fired for Seven of Boob. Meanwhile, she kind've breaks up with Neelix while under Tieran's control, which is hilarious because it's never addressed again. And the final scene is even better, when Tuvok tells Kes how this experience will change her outlook on life and how she behaves as a person and how she'll have to live with the consequences. Does he think he's on DS9 or something?
# of Crew: 143 Total -- 127 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,996.3 lightyears
"The Q and the Grey"
A wasted opportunity. First third of the show spent on the laborious Q-after-Janeway jokes, then we finally get to the meat of the story, the Q Civil War. Nice to see that "Death Wish" had consequences, but fourthings really bugged me:
1) Q's rebel faction wearing Union colours. Yeah, I know that it's so we'll sympathize more with him, but a more accurate metaphor would've been Q's faction as the Confederates.
2) The Voyager crew intervening turns the tide?? Puh-leez. The worst was when they showed Tom sneaking up behind the Q General. How do you sneak up behind an omnipotent being?
3) No Q has ever procreated? I direct you to "True Q" [TNG]
4) All of Janeway's high and mighty Roddenberry-esque speeches about how humanity has evolved beyond using violence to solve its problems so why not the Q? First off, the whole premise of VOYAGER is that 13/143 of the crew are terrorists. Janeway was on a mission to capture terrorists. Secondly, the whole premise of the Q on TNG was that they judged humanity for being a barbarous race who had to proove their worth to be in space. So this all felt really hollow. The idea of a Q Civil War after the events of "Death Wish" is interesting, but this episode doesn't really explore it -- it just uses it for action setpieces and wastes most of its time on dumb jokes.
# of Crew: 143 Total -- 127 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,959.9 lightyears
"Macrocosm"
Someone really wanted to do ALIEN on VOYAGER, I guess, with Janeway as Ripley. It almost works, but the entire drama of the episode is killed by an act-long flashback that has the same atmosphere as just any ol' VOY episode, rather than the dramatic, tension filled episode up to that point. From then on, it's all downhill.
# of Crew: 143 Total -- 127 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,943.8 lightyears
"Alter Ego"
Yaaaaawn. Everything in this episode has been done before on Trek, and better. Falling in love with a holo-character, a holo-character achieving sentience, a determined woman trying to seduce a Vulcan, the ancient alien wracked with lonliness, on and on.
# of Crew: 143 Total -- 127 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,907.4 lightyears
"Fair Trade"
A surprisingly great VOY episode, largely because it falls into the rare "we're acknowledging the premise" category of stories. Neelix is featured in an effective character examination as he realizes that now that Voyager has entered space he is unfamiliar with, he has essentially no use on the ship. It's a great episode with some great thematic material.
# of Crew: 143 Total -- 127 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,896.5 lightyears
"Coda"
Ugh. What the frak was this supposed to be? Was it supposed to be deep? Meaningful? Tell us something about Janeway? It did none of that. It mucked around for the first few acts pretending it was "Cause and Effect" [TNG], before aping "The Next Phase" [TNG], "The Tholian Web" [TOS], and even STAR TREK V. It's all ultimately meaningless and very stupid. If the answer to the mystery is an alien is trying to suck Janeway's lifeforce as she dies, then what's the explanation for endless near-death loop cycle at the start? They act like this creature might be back at the end, but he never returns, leaving a ton of vague unanswered bullshit. Terrible show.
# of Crew: 143 Total -- 127 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 6
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,888.2 lightyears
"Blood Fever"
Ah, here's a good show. It's basically "Amok Time" [TOS] in the Delta Quadrant, and explains why they brought Vorik onto the show about four or five episodes previous. A little silly as to why they didn't just use the Vulcan they already had, but then I could never see Tuvok acting the way Vorik does here. This is a fun show that also ignites the Paris/Torres relationship. And, of course, omg the borg.
# of Crew: 143 Total -- 127 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 6
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,880.7 lightyears
I think the number one problem with the Trek spin-offs is that by this point there are basically three kinds of Trek episode: one that advances the premise/plot of the show as a whole, one that develops a main character, and a standalone. And by now the standalones suck, because after seven years of TNG and three years of TOS, all of the interesting sci-fi tales that can be done in one hour of TV within Trek's premise have been done -- so any standalone adventures on VOY or DS9 are repeitive of what's gone before. The only thing making DS9 and VOY unique are their individual premises and casts, and DS9 utilizes those brilliantly. Most DS9 episodes are either advancing the story or bringing a character to a new place -- which VOY doesn't do enough of, content to merely tell episodic stories that are all derivative and thus boring by now. It really is TNG Lite --- same kind of stories, but solved with gimmicks and phaser fire than intelligence and drama.
"Unity"
In following up on the promise of "Blood Fever" and setting up the excitement of "Scorpion", this episode does a great job. With the way things are done here it almost feels like the VOY writers knew that they were going to have to make the Borg interesting and different to validate doing them. This is a very well written and interesting little episode. I kinda really hate that our crew is somewhat responsible for the Borg Co-Operative gaining control of that planet, for all we know the guys battering down their door to come kill them were screaming "For Liberty!" as they did it. But other than that, I think this episode probes into a very interesting topic -- namely, how something like the Borg came about in the first place. Of course it would've started innocuously, as it does here. The Borg probably started as hippies with Apple technology. But as VOY Borg episodes go, this is a good one. Very smart.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 5
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,849.5 lightyears
"Darkling"
At first it seems like this is gonna be a "Kes is like a teenage girl now" episode, with Doc and Janeway as the parental figures. Then it suddenly turns into Jekyll/Hyde on VOY with good Doc and evil Doc. It's basically just Robert Picardo having fun hamming it up for an episode. It's a fun watch, for sure, but there's nothing else here of import.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 5
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 17
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,768.2 lightyears
"Rise"
I've seen a lot of shows steal the basic plot of "Flight of the Phoenix", including Trek a few times, but never this blatantly. This is a fun show, it's got some good Neelix/Tuvok characterization, but other than that there's nothing to recommend.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,751.4 lightyears
"Favorite Son"
Ugh, so TAS did this episode and called it "The Lorolei Signal" -- and the episode itself admits its ripping off The Odyssey. Yaaawn. Not terrible, but pretty darn mediocre. Did I think for a second the aliens were going to be just as friendly as they seemed? They never are. Did I think for a second Harry was going to stay behind with them? I wish. Foregone conclusion, tired premise, weak hour.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,729 lightyears
"Before and After"
A fairly good time paradox story that utilizes Kes and her character's unique lifespan very well. It also does a great (and clever) job foreshadowing the Year of Hell storyline, which at this point was apparently planned as the S3 finale cliffhanger and was actually going to happen as opposed to just be a reset button story (notice the damage dealt the ship here isn't as severe as when the writers knew they were just going to undo it all). All in all, a good VOY episode. So, y'know, a rarity.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,678.5 lightyears
"Real Life"
An interesting episode for the Doctor (Kenneth Schmullus!), even if his holo-family essentially swings from one extreme stereotype to the other, while the sci-fi subplot of the week is the dullest its ever been. A memorable, if just okay, episode.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,619.6 lightyears
"Distant Origin"
This is a very intelligent, well written, well produced episode, worthy of the name Star Trek. Too bad it was essentially all done before and called PLANET OF THE APES. All kidding aside, it's a good show, even if its central concept (that a genus of dinosaur developed spaceflight and left Earth before the extinction event) is a little farfetched. I wish VOY took this more intelligent path more often -- when it does (like in last season's "Death Wish") it pays off.
Also, the crew complement is given as 148 here. Learn math, writers -- it's 142.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,586 lightyears
"Displaced"
OMG, aliens have abducted our characters, placing them in an idyllic prison. They are confused when we want to leave, because the prison is paradiscal and after all they are only doing what they need to survive.
This plot should be banned from Trek. Mainly because it was the plot of the GORRAM FIRST EPISODE EVER!
Ugh. Yawn.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,566.9 lightyears
"Worst Case Scenario"'
Best season 1 episode of VOY I've ever seen. But all kidding aside, a really well done, fun, compelling show, even after it's clearly just a holoprogram. The only part that doesn't really work as well is the third act jeopardy angle with Seska, but even then it's still a good time. Good stuff, VOY.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,547.8 lightyears
"Scorpion"
Wow. The first genuinely exciting, tension-filled episode of VOY. Ever. After three years we finally get a good balance of action, excitement, tension, plot, character and drama. A fantastic finale, even if the actual cliffhanger itself is pretty darned lame. But the idea of the Borg/8472 war is compelling. As is everything else in this show. Certainly leaves one excited for VOY. About time.
Fun fact -- this plotline was in development as far back as "Unity" -- the cube there was meant to be destroyed by 8472 -- but this episode was decided on as the cliffhanger instead of "Year of Hell" AFTER the decision to bring on Seven of Boob had been made. What HADN'T been decided yet, was who was leaving the show -- that's why Kes seems to have a pretty big role in the link to 8472 while Harry is lying on a biobed in sickbay dying -- because Garret Wang was originally supposed to leave instead of Jennifer Lien. If only.
# of Crew: 142 Total -- 126 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 16
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 72,539.8 lightyears
In three seasons, we've gotten about 3.3% of the way home. Way to go, Captain Janeway.
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