Neelix is back at it with his Paris-fueled jealousy/paranoia, and it is still grating. I had hoped that the writers had seen how un-endearing it was and dropped it, but no. Fortunately, we cut pretty early to the bridge, where they've found... another creature in space. Voyager seems to love space-borne lifeforms. This is what, the third already? I like the idea of life finding a way to flourish in space, but they hardly get into the science of it.
Instead it is mostly used as an excuse to have Kes go into heat! Great! She can only get pregnant once, and it got accelerated by the creatures! Now we can have a teen-pregnancy episode! I am so excited about this! Capping off a series of trite-to-the-point-of-painful scenes where Neelix isn't ready, Kes is ready, Neelix asks Tuvok for advice, Neelix is ready, Kes isn't ready, is a scene with Kes and the Doctor talk about what she should do which feels a little heartfelt and genuine. In between there are also some very awkward Chakotay/Janeway sequences. Should they allow sexing in the crew? No other Trek has cared about it, and they have extra reason to allow it here (being far from home) but they seem to think it is an issue. Although Chakotay starts dropping subtle hints that maybe Janeway should be making the sexy time with him, which is awful. You can do better, dude.
More space-borne lifeforms! Please! I'm very sorry about complaining about it, now that it is relegated to the B-plot. The little creatures begin attaching themselves to the Voyager, and then a big one shows up and starts being aggressive with the ship. Now even this part of the plot is about mating. Didn't TNG already do an episode about the ship being mistaken for a creature? At least Galaxy's Child didn't have the teen pregnancy bit, though the Geordi pining after Dr. Brahms parts were also pretty excruciating. Chakotay figures out that they should behave submissively to the creature, which works, and Janeway congratulates him (Not paraphrased)*: "In the future, if I have any questions about mating behavior, I'll know where to go." Bluh.
Solving the creature-problem also made Kes come out of heat. She can still have a baby later, but she learned an important lesson about responsibility, and so did Neelix (*groan*). Also, a crew member (Samantha Wildman's first appearance) is pregnant with her husband's child (the dad is back in the alpha quadrant), so Janeway decides magnanimously to allow it.
Watchability: 1/5
Bottom Line: Sure, Trek has more than its share of after-school-special episodes, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
*I figure, given the rate at which I paraphrase people, it's better if I just mark when I am actually quoting people.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
S2 E03: Projections
You know you're off to a good start when the Doctor is the only person left on the ship. Seems like there's been some sort of disastrous Kazon attack, and everyone but the Doctor abandoned ship. That kind of brings to mind the scene last season (in Prime Factors, I believe) where someone like Kes is gushing to the Doctor about how glad she is to be getting back to the Alpha Quadrant (I know, wtf?), and the Doctor quietly realizes that if the ship returns home, he won't be needed anymore. You get the same kind of feeling here, without it actually being mentioned - the Doctor's life would get very lonely under those circumstances.
The ship's sensors were malfunctioning, and there are a couple people left - Torres, Janeway, and Neelix. Behind the scenes Torres had been working on setting up holographic transmitters throughout the ship, and we get to see the Doctor being heroic in non-sickbay locales. At the same time, the crew isn't being picked up on the tricorders, so unfortunately we know pretty early that everything is an illusion. The next fifteen minutes are spent just twiddling our thumbs waiting for the other shoe to drop, and even the Doctor couldn't make it pass any faster. And then Barclay shows up.
Barclay is a character I have mixed feelings about. I like several of the episodes he's in, but the character himself is kind of annoying. I guess this episode is no exception. Barclay shows up and tells the Doctor that he is actually a real person (his creator, with whom Barclay works) trapped in a holodeck program. Not really the twist I was hoping for, but they get some good mileage out of it. Particularly when the Doctor realizes he can just delete "characters" he doesn't like - Paris is the first to go. Unfortunately, when he tries the same thing on Janeway, the holodeck is no longer responding to his commands (curses!).
Chakotay arrives now to tell him "no, you were right the first time, Voyager is real and this Barclay guy is lying to you. Just don't do anything, and things will be fine." The Doctor promptly engages in inaction, and the day is saved, but not without a kind of awkward "the alarm clock is going off waking you up from the dream where the alarm clock is going off" scene. I do really enjoy the reflective scene at the end in which the Doctor basically asks Kes why the episode was so silly. Voyager has had this kind of scene a couple times (well, the only one I can think of is State of Flux) and I think the self-awareness is endearing.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Tries to be an existential episode for the Doctor - but I like it better as a failure. We've kind of already done the Data thing, and I like that in this episode it was subtle enough to mostly ignore.
The ship's sensors were malfunctioning, and there are a couple people left - Torres, Janeway, and Neelix. Behind the scenes Torres had been working on setting up holographic transmitters throughout the ship, and we get to see the Doctor being heroic in non-sickbay locales. At the same time, the crew isn't being picked up on the tricorders, so unfortunately we know pretty early that everything is an illusion. The next fifteen minutes are spent just twiddling our thumbs waiting for the other shoe to drop, and even the Doctor couldn't make it pass any faster. And then Barclay shows up.
Barclay is a character I have mixed feelings about. I like several of the episodes he's in, but the character himself is kind of annoying. I guess this episode is no exception. Barclay shows up and tells the Doctor that he is actually a real person (his creator, with whom Barclay works) trapped in a holodeck program. Not really the twist I was hoping for, but they get some good mileage out of it. Particularly when the Doctor realizes he can just delete "characters" he doesn't like - Paris is the first to go. Unfortunately, when he tries the same thing on Janeway, the holodeck is no longer responding to his commands (curses!).
Chakotay arrives now to tell him "no, you were right the first time, Voyager is real and this Barclay guy is lying to you. Just don't do anything, and things will be fine." The Doctor promptly engages in inaction, and the day is saved, but not without a kind of awkward "the alarm clock is going off waking you up from the dream where the alarm clock is going off" scene. I do really enjoy the reflective scene at the end in which the Doctor basically asks Kes why the episode was so silly. Voyager has had this kind of scene a couple times (well, the only one I can think of is State of Flux) and I think the self-awareness is endearing.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Tries to be an existential episode for the Doctor - but I like it better as a failure. We've kind of already done the Data thing, and I like that in this episode it was subtle enough to mostly ignore.
Monday, December 20, 2010
S2 E02: Initiations
The Vidiians are a very unique concept that, so far, have been presented in very non-unique ways. The Kazon, on the other hand, feel very similar to the Klingons, even down to the makeup, but I'm generally pleased with their presentation. The Kazon are kind of like what you'd expect the Klingons would be if they weren't bordered by the hippie-peace-loving-but-also-powerful Federation, constantly tempering their aggressive, expansionistic impulses. Actually, it must be really emasculating for the Klingons to have the Federation right next to them, a faction which is both peaceful AND possessing of a comparable military. No wonder they turned inward with political infighting and a civil war during TNG and freaked out and attacked everything that moved in DS9.
Chakotay is meditating alone on a shuttle when he is attacked by a Kazon shuttle - piloted by a kid (Kar). Chakotay does his calm-under-fire thing, easily outmaneuvers Kar, and takes him prisoner. Kar is less than grateful, but I don't really expect him to be. Chakotay preaches at him a lot about "don't kill me," "I don't want to kill you," "you know, you really shouldn't kill me, especially since I don't want to kill you," you get the idea. Chakotay gets captured by the Kazon with Kar on board, and now the tables are turned.
So we've got the following major elements in this episode: (A) Chakotay being a perfect example of starfleet pacifism, and (B) insight into Kazon society through Kar. The first one doesn't work very well for me because Chakotay just isn't starfleet. The writers try to play it off as his native american heritage a bit, and I think that if they played that up more, that part of the episode would have worked better. The Kazon backstory is just hinted at enough to pique my curiosity, without having too much exposition. The Kazon are currently a tribal, presumably largely nomadic spacefaring race whose internal borders move daily based on the relative power of the sects. At some point in the past, the Kazon used to be opressed by another race, until they violently overthrew them. With little detail, they've managed to explain a lot of the idiosyncracies of the Kazon; the distrust, the aggression, it has worked for them, it has saved them in the past. I like it, a lot. Kind of a look at what would have happened if the more agressive native americans had started winning against the colonists - which is why playing up that part of Chakotay would have worked better.
Not that I don't enjoy Federation pacifism - I do. And even though Chakotay is probably the wrong guy for the job of starfleet spokesperson, that part of the show isn't bad, just a bit awkward. Chakotay manages to befriend Kar despite their differences (awwwww) in what is a pretty natural progression throughout the episode. Kar is returned to his people with his honor restored (without killing Chakotay) in a reasonably clever way, so I'm happy.
As an aside, Aron Eisenberg, who portrays Kar, also plays Nog on DS9. If you've watched both, you'll notice it right away. He does a good job with the role (especially considering that he hasn't gotten into the meatier Nog episodes yet), but it is a bit distracting for him to be so recognizable.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Even though I'm pretty sure one of the Kazon had a curly telephone cord knotted into his hair, I still like them.
Chakotay is meditating alone on a shuttle when he is attacked by a Kazon shuttle - piloted by a kid (Kar). Chakotay does his calm-under-fire thing, easily outmaneuvers Kar, and takes him prisoner. Kar is less than grateful, but I don't really expect him to be. Chakotay preaches at him a lot about "don't kill me," "I don't want to kill you," "you know, you really shouldn't kill me, especially since I don't want to kill you," you get the idea. Chakotay gets captured by the Kazon with Kar on board, and now the tables are turned.
So we've got the following major elements in this episode: (A) Chakotay being a perfect example of starfleet pacifism, and (B) insight into Kazon society through Kar. The first one doesn't work very well for me because Chakotay just isn't starfleet. The writers try to play it off as his native american heritage a bit, and I think that if they played that up more, that part of the episode would have worked better. The Kazon backstory is just hinted at enough to pique my curiosity, without having too much exposition. The Kazon are currently a tribal, presumably largely nomadic spacefaring race whose internal borders move daily based on the relative power of the sects. At some point in the past, the Kazon used to be opressed by another race, until they violently overthrew them. With little detail, they've managed to explain a lot of the idiosyncracies of the Kazon; the distrust, the aggression, it has worked for them, it has saved them in the past. I like it, a lot. Kind of a look at what would have happened if the more agressive native americans had started winning against the colonists - which is why playing up that part of Chakotay would have worked better.
Not that I don't enjoy Federation pacifism - I do. And even though Chakotay is probably the wrong guy for the job of starfleet spokesperson, that part of the show isn't bad, just a bit awkward. Chakotay manages to befriend Kar despite their differences (awwwww) in what is a pretty natural progression throughout the episode. Kar is returned to his people with his honor restored (without killing Chakotay) in a reasonably clever way, so I'm happy.
As an aside, Aron Eisenberg, who portrays Kar, also plays Nog on DS9. If you've watched both, you'll notice it right away. He does a good job with the role (especially considering that he hasn't gotten into the meatier Nog episodes yet), but it is a bit distracting for him to be so recognizable.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Even though I'm pretty sure one of the Kazon had a curly telephone cord knotted into his hair, I still like them.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
S2 E01: The 37's
Okay, to start off with, the title of the show is grammatically incorrect. If your show is called diaries of teenage angst or whatever, you can do whatever you want with your titles, but if you are Trek, get it right. Then you would have done one right thing with this episode.
Voyager detects trace amounts of rust and gas in space. Turns out there's a '36 Ford floating around in space in the Delta quadrant. Just floating there. Of course Tom knows everything about it - I'm okay with the conceit that there's always a member of the crew who is obsessed with something from 20th century Earth. They have a sickeningly cutesy scene where they fire it up in the cargo bay, and then hear an SOS on the car's radio. They follow the signal, and find a planet where there are humans in cryostasis underground. And one of them is Amelia Erheart (who Janeway is an expert on, of course). Some alien race had been abducting humans across the galaxy and storing them in stasis for use in slave labor - which we find out from the human civilization (undetected until now) on the planet, who had overthrown their captors years ago. They are goofy, have vast and amazing cities that we never see, and go from antagonistic to obsequious at the drop of a hat.
Janeway almost saves the episode by giving the crew the opportunity to make new lives for themselves and settle on the planet. There is a brief moment where she and Chakotay have a nearly intellectual discussions about giving the crew that choice, but it dissolves into melodrama. Oh, hey, everyone loves you Janeway, and no one wants to stay on the planet. That must comfort you greatly as you watch your show's ratings plummet.
I can enjoy camp. I even liked The Royale (TNG season 2), but I could not find anything to enjoy about this episode. Acting, dialogue, direction, sets, effects, everything was terrible. Even characters I'm generally pleased with struggled with blatant exposition set-up lines. Most deliveries seemed straight out of daytime soaps or infomercials. Amelia is bland, her boyfriend is bland, everyone and everything is bland bland bland. I don't need a show to have a good budget to be enjoyable, but show us some indication of how supposedly awesome this human civilization is. That could have been fascinating! The art challenge alone of deciding what their architecture would look like, a mix of the 30s and that of their captors, is very intriguing to me. They blew their budget on landing Voyager on the planet (which looks ridiculous), instead of something to help flesh out an otherwise flimsy story.
Watchability: 1/5
Bottom Line: I could kind of maybe excuse this as a mid-season filler episode, but this is what they open with? Worse, the plan had been to use this episode as the finale for season one. If people are going to tune in for an episode, it's going to be at the beginning or end of a season. Make it count, people! You can do better than this, I know you can.
Voyager detects trace amounts of rust and gas in space. Turns out there's a '36 Ford floating around in space in the Delta quadrant. Just floating there. Of course Tom knows everything about it - I'm okay with the conceit that there's always a member of the crew who is obsessed with something from 20th century Earth. They have a sickeningly cutesy scene where they fire it up in the cargo bay, and then hear an SOS on the car's radio. They follow the signal, and find a planet where there are humans in cryostasis underground. And one of them is Amelia Erheart (who Janeway is an expert on, of course). Some alien race had been abducting humans across the galaxy and storing them in stasis for use in slave labor - which we find out from the human civilization (undetected until now) on the planet, who had overthrown their captors years ago. They are goofy, have vast and amazing cities that we never see, and go from antagonistic to obsequious at the drop of a hat.
Janeway almost saves the episode by giving the crew the opportunity to make new lives for themselves and settle on the planet. There is a brief moment where she and Chakotay have a nearly intellectual discussions about giving the crew that choice, but it dissolves into melodrama. Oh, hey, everyone loves you Janeway, and no one wants to stay on the planet. That must comfort you greatly as you watch your show's ratings plummet.
I can enjoy camp. I even liked The Royale (TNG season 2), but I could not find anything to enjoy about this episode. Acting, dialogue, direction, sets, effects, everything was terrible. Even characters I'm generally pleased with struggled with blatant exposition set-up lines. Most deliveries seemed straight out of daytime soaps or infomercials. Amelia is bland, her boyfriend is bland, everyone and everything is bland bland bland. I don't need a show to have a good budget to be enjoyable, but show us some indication of how supposedly awesome this human civilization is. That could have been fascinating! The art challenge alone of deciding what their architecture would look like, a mix of the 30s and that of their captors, is very intriguing to me. They blew their budget on landing Voyager on the planet (which looks ridiculous), instead of something to help flesh out an otherwise flimsy story.
Watchability: 1/5
Bottom Line: I could kind of maybe excuse this as a mid-season filler episode, but this is what they open with? Worse, the plan had been to use this episode as the finale for season one. If people are going to tune in for an episode, it's going to be at the beginning or end of a season. Make it count, people! You can do better than this, I know you can.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Season 1 Evaluation
| Caretaker | 4 |
| Parallax | 3 |
| Time and Again | 2 |
| Phage | 2 |
| The Cloud | 3 |
| Eye of the Needle | 5 |
| Ex Post Facto | 4 |
| Emanations | 5 |
| Prime Factors | 2 |
| State of Flux | 3 |
| Heroes and Demons | 4 |
| Cathexis | 2 |
| Faces | 3 |
| Jetrel | 5 |
| Learning Curve | 2 |
| Average Score | 3.3 |
I liked this season more than I expected to. I didn't really expect any fives at all, let alone three of them. No ones, but it had more than its share of twos (though what first season of Trek doesn't?). At the same time, I kind of expect more from a series produced by people who have been doing the same thing for over seven years. Voyager has a big premise - lost far from home, a crew divided - but they're not really taking advantage of that. I don't need serial continuity, I don't need this to be another Battlestar, I'd just like more examination of their adventures in terms of their situation. Too often they'll try to reduce energy consumption one time, just to ignore it another (holodecks, I'm looking at you). Too often is the integration struggle conveniently ignored (and when it isn't, it is kept too tidy).
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Some gems, no completely unwatchable episodes, overall not bad. I've made it to season two largely unharmed.
Character Status: (Edit - I have gone back and ordered this list as I did for the Season 4 evaluation)
9. Kathryn Janeway: I've already said most of what I have to say about her in my review for Cathexis. All of that said, she is slowly getting better. Sloooowly. One thing Amanda pointed out is that it's annoying that she seems to be an expert on every technical topic on the show. More opportunity to be smugly superior, I guess.
8. Neelix: Oh boy. If I'd written this two episodes ago, it would have been a page-long diatribe like the bit on Janeway. It was as if he had been perfectly designed to be the worst character ever. If he were only excruciatingly cheerful, that would have been tolerable, but the writers also used him any time they wanted a character to be petty or jealous or shortsighted. So he just came out incredibly obnoxious. It would also have been better if he were at least competent at something, but no one seemed to be even able to stand his cooking. Then Jetrel happened, and I have hope again. Please, please don't let them take that away from me.
7. Chakotay: I'm of two minds on him. He is very likable so far, but maybe he shouldn't be. I mean, I'm very grateful that he's been level-headed and calm (to the point of sedate) most of the time, but he's also not acting like he was the captain of another ship. His willingness to be Janeway's complete subordinate despite having a decent resume himself (and a crew who is only loyal to him) is a bit unrealistic. I'd like to see less bland and more Malcolm Reynolds out of him.
6. Kes: It doesn't seem like they know what to do with her. Mostly she's Deanna Troi. But there hasn't been all that much exploration of what makes Kes work, so there's plenty of room for her to improve or worsen. We'll see.
5. Tom Paris: So far, he's been Riker without the rank. He's another "adjusted too smoothly" character. Honestly, after the premiere, the only episode where they've done much with him was the murder mystery one, and he doesn't do himself many favors there. Give me more of what he was in Caretaker, and I'll be happy.
4. Harry Kim: I'm a fan of Wil Wheaton now, but honestly Wesley Crusher had all the most terrible lines. Harry Kim so far has kind of been a Wesley without the annoying stuff. We haven't gotten a whole lot of him yet, but what I've seen has been good. Young and naive without being bothersome or a liability.
3. B'Elanna Torres: She had the most gradual easing into the crew of all the Maquis, and it has paid off. She's complex, a decent actress, and I look forward to seeing what else they do with her.
2. Tuvok: Tuvok is great so far. Tim Russ knows how to Vulcan. And the writers are showing restraint by not having him break out in emotion every single episode. I've warmed to the idea of a Vulcan as security chief in the same way that Odo worked well: security framed as the pursuit as order. In that light, a Vulcan is the perfect choice. But while Odo operated from a more Lawful Neutral perspective, Tuvok falls more into the Lawful Good category, so we get a slightly different take on things.
1. The Doctor: If you've been reading and don't know what I think of the Doctor, then I simply don't know how to express myself. He is currently the best part of the show.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Some gems, no completely unwatchable episodes, overall not bad. I've made it to season two largely unharmed.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
S1 E15: Learning Curve
Janeway's doing her holonovel thing again. It is irrelevant and a bit painful to watch. Oh well, it's over soon enough. I'm just hoping it doesn't become the focus of an entire episode.
There's a problem with the bio-neural gel packs that the ship uses (to do everything it seems) - and a Maquis crewmember decides to just up and fix it! How could he?? Doesn't he know there are appropriate channels for that sort of thing? I just... the Maquis. It feels like an odd choice. The writers seems almost inconvenienced by them most of the time. Every now and then (this episode makes number four out of fifteen) they decided that the Maquis should be a major plot point, and the rest of the time every just acts like they've been starfleet all along (Chakotay is particularly guilty of this). The degree to which everyone has integrated just doesn't feel natural to me.
And it doesn't feel natural to some of the Maquis either. For some reason, Tuvok is tasked with whipping four of the less well integrated ones into shape, perhaps because Janeway wants him to fail. Seriously, giving that job to the least flexible guy on the ship is like saying "just fail them for me so we can give up on them and kick them off the ship." Even Neelix can tell it is a bad idea. But because of that, we get our first real Neelix/Tuvok scene since the premiere, and they work well together again. It could have been a painful "emotion is better than logic, silly Vulcan" moment, the kind that TOS loved to have, but it wasn't.
Back to the B-plot, the bio-neural gel packs, which have been name-dropped but not really explored yet, seem to have an infection. Torres brings one to the Doctor to cure, and he teases her by trying out his improved bedside manner with them. Excellent. The bacteria/virus (they don't seem to make up their minds on that) is resistant to medications, so the solution they pick is to simulate a fever to kill the bug. Fun idea, but that theory of why people have a fever isn't likely to be correct. If the body were to really heat up enough to kill bugs, it would be hot enough to denature the proteins in the good cells too. Nice thought though.
Meanwhile, Tuvok and the Maquis both learn important lessons about flexibility and responsibility and they all integrate beautifully. Just very unsatisfying for me.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: I can understand the desire for the last episode of the season to have some continuity, but this was no season finale. I would have much rather they had wrapped up the season with Jetrel.
There's a problem with the bio-neural gel packs that the ship uses (to do everything it seems) - and a Maquis crewmember decides to just up and fix it! How could he?? Doesn't he know there are appropriate channels for that sort of thing? I just... the Maquis. It feels like an odd choice. The writers seems almost inconvenienced by them most of the time. Every now and then (this episode makes number four out of fifteen) they decided that the Maquis should be a major plot point, and the rest of the time every just acts like they've been starfleet all along (Chakotay is particularly guilty of this). The degree to which everyone has integrated just doesn't feel natural to me.
And it doesn't feel natural to some of the Maquis either. For some reason, Tuvok is tasked with whipping four of the less well integrated ones into shape, perhaps because Janeway wants him to fail. Seriously, giving that job to the least flexible guy on the ship is like saying "just fail them for me so we can give up on them and kick them off the ship." Even Neelix can tell it is a bad idea. But because of that, we get our first real Neelix/Tuvok scene since the premiere, and they work well together again. It could have been a painful "emotion is better than logic, silly Vulcan" moment, the kind that TOS loved to have, but it wasn't.
Back to the B-plot, the bio-neural gel packs, which have been name-dropped but not really explored yet, seem to have an infection. Torres brings one to the Doctor to cure, and he teases her by trying out his improved bedside manner with them. Excellent. The bacteria/virus (they don't seem to make up their minds on that) is resistant to medications, so the solution they pick is to simulate a fever to kill the bug. Fun idea, but that theory of why people have a fever isn't likely to be correct. If the body were to really heat up enough to kill bugs, it would be hot enough to denature the proteins in the good cells too. Nice thought though.
Meanwhile, Tuvok and the Maquis both learn important lessons about flexibility and responsibility and they all integrate beautifully. Just very unsatisfying for me.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: I can understand the desire for the last episode of the season to have some continuity, but this was no season finale. I would have much rather they had wrapped up the season with Jetrel.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
S1 E14: Jetrel
An alien scientist (Jetrel) contacts Voyager, and asks to speak directly with Neelix. As it happens, this guy created the weapon that killed 300,000 people on a moon of the Talaxian homeworld. And he wants to check Neelix to see if he has any signs of a blood disease common in the first responders to the attack. Neelix is understandably skeptical. When Jetrel tells Neelix that he's got the fatal, incurable disease, we get some honest, genuine, emotional responses from him. Yup. From Neelix.
Kes tries to support him, but he brushes it off. He's being downright resilient, which, while out of character based on prior appearances, is exactly how I've wanted him to be. He points out that now he won't outlive Kes (and her nine year lifespan), something he'd been worried about, but now he doesn't have to. That's the kind of touch that I imagine happens more often in a multiple-writer setting, where there's someone else to say "Hey, what about this ramification of your plot ideas?"
Jetrel turns out to be pretty complicated. Watching the episode, not knowing what his actual intentions are, I went back and forth on him. He's pretty reserved - and a little shady - though part of that impression is based on what Neelix thinks of him. There's a scene wherein Jetrel defends his creation in the name of scientific progress where I got worried that there'd be a whole "technology is bad" lesson. I can go anywhere for one of those; I hope to avoid it when watching Trek (though it has let me down from time to time). It becomes clear later in the episode, when Jetrel is shown to be genuinely remorseful to the point of obsession about what had happened to Neelix's people, that this particular defense is just one he uses to avoid honestly discussing his feelings.
We also find out a reason for Neelix's past behavior: he is carrying incredible guilt for not being part of the defense force for his world. Turns out he has displaced some of his self-hatred onto Jetrel, but I feel he's also channeled it onto being a useless moron for the entire preceding season. While I find this to be a satisfactory explanation for his prior antics, I would be perfectly happy for them not to continue.
The reason why Jetrel was being kind of dodgy is he was working on a crackpot way to restore all the Talaxian victims to life. It doesn't end up working, but I think it would have been really cool if it had. I don't know if Neelix would have forgiven him if he'd succeeded. Jetrel would have become a hero to the Talaxians in undoing what he'd wrought, and that might have sent Neelix off the deep end. On the other hand, if he stays as sympathetic as he was in this episode, I guess I won't mind if he stays.
Watchability: 5/5
Bottom Line: This episode is a direct parallel to the WWII nuclear attacks against Japan. Usually I like my sci-fi parables to not be as exact in their reenacting, but here I find it excusable because the topic was treated so carefully. Not heavy handed, and gives you a reason not to cringe when Neelix comes on screen.
Kes tries to support him, but he brushes it off. He's being downright resilient, which, while out of character based on prior appearances, is exactly how I've wanted him to be. He points out that now he won't outlive Kes (and her nine year lifespan), something he'd been worried about, but now he doesn't have to. That's the kind of touch that I imagine happens more often in a multiple-writer setting, where there's someone else to say "Hey, what about this ramification of your plot ideas?"
Jetrel turns out to be pretty complicated. Watching the episode, not knowing what his actual intentions are, I went back and forth on him. He's pretty reserved - and a little shady - though part of that impression is based on what Neelix thinks of him. There's a scene wherein Jetrel defends his creation in the name of scientific progress where I got worried that there'd be a whole "technology is bad" lesson. I can go anywhere for one of those; I hope to avoid it when watching Trek (though it has let me down from time to time). It becomes clear later in the episode, when Jetrel is shown to be genuinely remorseful to the point of obsession about what had happened to Neelix's people, that this particular defense is just one he uses to avoid honestly discussing his feelings.
We also find out a reason for Neelix's past behavior: he is carrying incredible guilt for not being part of the defense force for his world. Turns out he has displaced some of his self-hatred onto Jetrel, but I feel he's also channeled it onto being a useless moron for the entire preceding season. While I find this to be a satisfactory explanation for his prior antics, I would be perfectly happy for them not to continue.
The reason why Jetrel was being kind of dodgy is he was working on a crackpot way to restore all the Talaxian victims to life. It doesn't end up working, but I think it would have been really cool if it had. I don't know if Neelix would have forgiven him if he'd succeeded. Jetrel would have become a hero to the Talaxians in undoing what he'd wrought, and that might have sent Neelix off the deep end. On the other hand, if he stays as sympathetic as he was in this episode, I guess I won't mind if he stays.
Watchability: 5/5
Bottom Line: This episode is a direct parallel to the WWII nuclear attacks against Japan. Usually I like my sci-fi parables to not be as exact in their reenacting, but here I find it excusable because the topic was treated so carefully. Not heavy handed, and gives you a reason not to cringe when Neelix comes on screen.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
S1 E13: Faces
The Vidiians are back, and this time they've split Torres in two: a Klingon B'Elanna and a Human B'Elanna. Looks like they just wanted to develop her a bit more, and the Vidiians were a convenient excuse to do so. Back during Phage I expressed my interest in the Vidiians returning, so I guess I got my wish. They are an interesting concept for a villain, but they're just such jerks that is it hard to sympathize with them the way the writers want us to. This time they have abducted crew members (and other aliens) to work as slave labor in mines, be walking organ banks, and have disfiguring genetic experiments performed upon them. It's tough to believe that the Vidiians were ever even remotely good guys.
Well, okay, I guess humans do bad things too, and there are still human good guys. It is just frustrating that all these Vidiians have all been so evil; though, to be fair, we've only actually known three of them by name. And at the same time, we have Torres acting wildly differently based on whether she is composed of human or Klingon DNA. It annoyed me at first, but the actress gradually softened her performance(s) as the episode went on. It makes sense, I suppose, to have her need to adjust to the presumably very different brain chemistry/neurotransmitter composition of a very alien noggin.
Part-way through we meet our second Talaxian. He's obnoxious, squirrelly, and strangely noble, and I like him. I can't help but think: what if this were Neelix? Neelix could sure use some mystery. Currently he is used as the painfully stupid crewmember who needs everything explained so that other characters can engage in boring exposition. He wears everything on his sleeve and I never want to know anything more about him. I like this new nameless Talaxian better.
The head Vidiian researcher takes a turn for the macabre when he, in order to appear more attractive to Torres, takes the face of the redshirt who was with her and Paris when they got captured (played by the guy with the cellular entertainment center in DS9) and grafts it onto his own. I know I just got done saying that I wish the Vidiians weren't so evil, as long as they are going to be evil, this is the way to do it. It is a pretty haunting scene, this guy being so out of touch that he thought that mutilating an acquaintance of Torres' would endear him to her.
Resolution: Torres discovers that she needs her Klingon half to be whole, rescues the captives (with Chakotay-disguised-as-a-Vidiian's help), and the Doctor restores her to normal. It is trite, but not badly done. I like Torres in general, and this wasn't a terrible way to progress her character.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Torres gets some character development and we see more of the Vidiians, which is almost enough.
Well, okay, I guess humans do bad things too, and there are still human good guys. It is just frustrating that all these Vidiians have all been so evil; though, to be fair, we've only actually known three of them by name. And at the same time, we have Torres acting wildly differently based on whether she is composed of human or Klingon DNA. It annoyed me at first, but the actress gradually softened her performance(s) as the episode went on. It makes sense, I suppose, to have her need to adjust to the presumably very different brain chemistry/neurotransmitter composition of a very alien noggin.
Part-way through we meet our second Talaxian. He's obnoxious, squirrelly, and strangely noble, and I like him. I can't help but think: what if this were Neelix? Neelix could sure use some mystery. Currently he is used as the painfully stupid crewmember who needs everything explained so that other characters can engage in boring exposition. He wears everything on his sleeve and I never want to know anything more about him. I like this new nameless Talaxian better.
The head Vidiian researcher takes a turn for the macabre when he, in order to appear more attractive to Torres, takes the face of the redshirt who was with her and Paris when they got captured (played by the guy with the cellular entertainment center in DS9) and grafts it onto his own. I know I just got done saying that I wish the Vidiians weren't so evil, as long as they are going to be evil, this is the way to do it. It is a pretty haunting scene, this guy being so out of touch that he thought that mutilating an acquaintance of Torres' would endear him to her.
Resolution: Torres discovers that she needs her Klingon half to be whole, rescues the captives (with Chakotay-disguised-as-a-Vidiian's help), and the Doctor restores her to normal. It is trite, but not badly done. I like Torres in general, and this wasn't a terrible way to progress her character.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Torres gets some character development and we see more of the Vidiians, which is almost enough.
Monday, December 13, 2010
S1 E12: Cathexis
Yeah, I'm just going to have to let this holodeck-use thing go. I tried to believe that the crew was in denial, but really the writers are. This show is not TNG. It has its own premise and characters and that means sometimes you can't just fall back on conventions if you want to succeed. I know Picard and company had some fun and interesting adventures in the holodeck, and the Voyager writers wanted to tap into that, but it would be so much more compelling if they actually came up with something new and unique. Speaking of which, the whole thing that got me started on this, Janeway opens the show in a romantic-era British literature-based holodeck program. I mean... okay, here it comes...
I have heard the sentiment from time to time that Janeway is a bad captain because she is a woman. Really, people have said that to me, point blank. On each occasion, I have tried to give them an out, searching to interpret their statement in a way that isn't sexist, but have been rebuffed and told that they simply don't believe women belong in leadership positions. And what has made me extra uncomfortable about these statements is that I don't like Janeway either - does that make me sound like them?
Perhaps some background on me is in order; I am a nurse. I see shining examples of strong female leadership on a daily basis. I see the other side of the coin as well. Women can be good and bad leaders just like men. I do not believe that their femaleness has anything to do with it. Janeway just happens to be the victim of (A) terrible acting and (B) terrible writing.
I feel bad for not liking Janeway's acting because, in all the interviews I've seen her in, the actress (Mulgrew) is very passionate about Star Trek. I want to encourage that sort of thing. But I believe that she really is passionate about Trek, because I know how bad she is at acting, and couldn't fake it if she wanted to. She has almost no control over what she does with her face (compare to the Doctor, who seems to be able to flex every single muscle in his face individually and at will). The other part of the acting problem is that she was simply a poor casting decision. She delivers every single line with either CONDESCENSION or DISTASTEFUL SCORN. I just can't like a leader who speaks to all her subordinates as if they were naughty puppies.
The other problem, the writing, is probably more to blame. Listen to her lines. Imagine Picard is saying them. Go ahead, I'll wait. Okay, good. Performing this exercise over the course of the better part of a season, you start to get an impression of what the writers were trying to do: make her a "Female Picard". The effect is disastrous. The writers' idea of what makes her a woman (wishy-washy decisions, overly emotional, compassionate towards enemies to a fault) is incredibly sexist. I've even begun to think that the producers picked her as an actress because of her CONDESCENSION and DISTASTEFUL SCORN - because that's what they wanted for a woman Picard.
I had meant to save that indictment of the writers for the end-of-season wrap-up, but when Janeway came out for her womanized Dixon Hill holodeck program, I knew I couldn't stop myself. It was barely the first 2 minutes of the show... the show! That's right, let me review it. Maybe I'll get back to that other stuff another time. If, you know, it ever comes up again.
Tuvok and Chakotay are attacked while investigating a nebula (in a shuttle), from which Tuvok recovers but Chakotay is left with all of his neural energy missing. Meanwhile, Kes, playing Counselor Troi, vaguely senses a presence floating around the ship. No one thinks that it could possibly be Chakotay, and gets disproportionately scared of this alien presence as it possesses people and expertly uses the ship's systems. Really, everyone is acting a little possessed by a need to investigate this nebula. Why? It is clearly a threat. Exploration is not your mission here, people. At least give me some technobabble to explain what reverse anti flux proton quarks they need there. Anyways,Chakotay the incorporeal entity that is most certainly not Chakotay keeps trying to stop them from going there, so obviously they should go.
While everyone is being... uncomfortably shortsighted, we get B'Elanna hanging up in sickbay a tribal medicine wheel which Chakotay taught her to use (presumably while she wasn't killing her animal guide). She prepares to get defensive when the Doctor gives her some sidelong glances, but he explains to her that she is doing it wrong, and is actually guiding Chakotay's spirit to the realm of the antelope women, a place that he might actually find preferable to the sickbay. I like to think that Chakotay intentionally taught her to do it that way, and the Doctor is being a killjoy.
Also, more to put in the "reasons why the Doctor is awesome" file: The paranoia-addled crew decides that because the Doctor cannot be possessed, they'll have to give him all the command codes for the ship. His response is fantastic. He is, by programming, confident to a fault, largely because he is so competent. The subtlety with which he delivers his lines conveys a sense of trepidation through that confidence - a delightful contradiction. I mean, when you listen to his actual lines, you can easily imagine how a less accomplished actor might make them sound drab and make you roll your eyes every time he comes on screen. I'm glad that doesn't happen here. Then there's Neelix. He has another one of those scenes where he is unredeemably useless. But I'm not going to go into that now. Really, I'm holding that in, and moving on.
Well, the alien presence actually was Chakotay! Who knew?? I didn't know that Tuvok was possessed by a different alien for the entire episode, so that was at least a bit of a surprise. Chakotay saves the day, then the Doctor revives him (in that order), and that's it. The episode's over and I'm still asking: why?
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: *shrug*
I have heard the sentiment from time to time that Janeway is a bad captain because she is a woman. Really, people have said that to me, point blank. On each occasion, I have tried to give them an out, searching to interpret their statement in a way that isn't sexist, but have been rebuffed and told that they simply don't believe women belong in leadership positions. And what has made me extra uncomfortable about these statements is that I don't like Janeway either - does that make me sound like them?
Perhaps some background on me is in order; I am a nurse. I see shining examples of strong female leadership on a daily basis. I see the other side of the coin as well. Women can be good and bad leaders just like men. I do not believe that their femaleness has anything to do with it. Janeway just happens to be the victim of (A) terrible acting and (B) terrible writing.
I feel bad for not liking Janeway's acting because, in all the interviews I've seen her in, the actress (Mulgrew) is very passionate about Star Trek. I want to encourage that sort of thing. But I believe that she really is passionate about Trek, because I know how bad she is at acting, and couldn't fake it if she wanted to. She has almost no control over what she does with her face (compare to the Doctor, who seems to be able to flex every single muscle in his face individually and at will). The other part of the acting problem is that she was simply a poor casting decision. She delivers every single line with either CONDESCENSION or DISTASTEFUL SCORN. I just can't like a leader who speaks to all her subordinates as if they were naughty puppies.
The other problem, the writing, is probably more to blame. Listen to her lines. Imagine Picard is saying them. Go ahead, I'll wait. Okay, good. Performing this exercise over the course of the better part of a season, you start to get an impression of what the writers were trying to do: make her a "Female Picard". The effect is disastrous. The writers' idea of what makes her a woman (wishy-washy decisions, overly emotional, compassionate towards enemies to a fault) is incredibly sexist. I've even begun to think that the producers picked her as an actress because of her CONDESCENSION and DISTASTEFUL SCORN - because that's what they wanted for a woman Picard.
I had meant to save that indictment of the writers for the end-of-season wrap-up, but when Janeway came out for her womanized Dixon Hill holodeck program, I knew I couldn't stop myself. It was barely the first 2 minutes of the show... the show! That's right, let me review it. Maybe I'll get back to that other stuff another time. If, you know, it ever comes up again.
Tuvok and Chakotay are attacked while investigating a nebula (in a shuttle), from which Tuvok recovers but Chakotay is left with all of his neural energy missing. Meanwhile, Kes, playing Counselor Troi, vaguely senses a presence floating around the ship. No one thinks that it could possibly be Chakotay, and gets disproportionately scared of this alien presence as it possesses people and expertly uses the ship's systems. Really, everyone is acting a little possessed by a need to investigate this nebula. Why? It is clearly a threat. Exploration is not your mission here, people. At least give me some technobabble to explain what reverse anti flux proton quarks they need there. Anyways,
While everyone is being... uncomfortably shortsighted, we get B'Elanna hanging up in sickbay a tribal medicine wheel which Chakotay taught her to use (presumably while she wasn't killing her animal guide). She prepares to get defensive when the Doctor gives her some sidelong glances, but he explains to her that she is doing it wrong, and is actually guiding Chakotay's spirit to the realm of the antelope women, a place that he might actually find preferable to the sickbay. I like to think that Chakotay intentionally taught her to do it that way, and the Doctor is being a killjoy.
Also, more to put in the "reasons why the Doctor is awesome" file: The paranoia-addled crew decides that because the Doctor cannot be possessed, they'll have to give him all the command codes for the ship. His response is fantastic. He is, by programming, confident to a fault, largely because he is so competent. The subtlety with which he delivers his lines conveys a sense of trepidation through that confidence - a delightful contradiction. I mean, when you listen to his actual lines, you can easily imagine how a less accomplished actor might make them sound drab and make you roll your eyes every time he comes on screen. I'm glad that doesn't happen here. Then there's Neelix. He has another one of those scenes where he is unredeemably useless. But I'm not going to go into that now. Really, I'm holding that in, and moving on.
Well, the alien presence actually was Chakotay! Who knew?? I didn't know that Tuvok was possessed by a different alien for the entire episode, so that was at least a bit of a surprise. Chakotay saves the day, then the Doctor revives him (in that order), and that's it. The episode's over and I'm still asking: why?
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: *shrug*
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
S1 E11: Heroes and Demons
Well, they're still using the Holodeck while trying to save energy. I know I went off at length about this extravagant expenditure earlier, but it does bother me every time. Even worse, it was a whole holoprogram just for one guy. You'd think they'd at least "carpool" or something. The holodecks are large enough, and people can be in very different settings at the same time in one holodeck. Just a thought.
Anyways, while Kim is using the Holodeck, it becomes infected with "photonic energy" that Torres has collected to study. Voyager now gets to have its first "Things Go Wrong on the Holodeck" story, a trope that served TNG well - essentially replacing the need for the constant TOS "Well, This Planet Sure Looks Like The Set They Weren't Using Next Door" episodes. The difference here? Voyager happens to have a major character who is also a hologram. Yeah, that's right, this is a Doctor Episode! Wooooo!
Harry Kim's holoprogram is a reenactment of Beowulf, with Kim as the star. The photonic energy has taken over the role of the monster and (predictably) turned off the safety protocols. Kim has vanished, as have Tuvok and Chakotay who went in after him - the Doctor gets to go next. The Doctor, who has never seen anything outside of sickbay, who is essentially a couple of months old, but who has an extentive amount of medical knowledge and a very dry sense of humor, gets to romp around in pre-medieval Denmark and thwart a villain. This episode gets a bit silly, in that good way that Trek sometimes can. It's not too awkward, largely because the Doctor seems to feel no shame.
The photonic energy is actually a life form! This is a Trek twist as old as time, but the purpose of this episode is not to give our intellects a vigorous workout, rather it is to entertain us with a geek who gets to be a hero. And what a delightful geek he is.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Silly episodes are a necessity. I wouldn't want every episode to be silly, but it has to happen from time to time. I am under the impression that the writers think that Neelix qualifies as "silly", and I was very happy that he was not the focus of Voyager's first comic relief episode.
Amanda's Voyager Hair Report: Janeway's bun is almost imperceptibly less severe in this episode, and it is received like the second coming because the previous style bothered her so much. Please don't let them change it back, I want her to keep watching with me.
Anyways, while Kim is using the Holodeck, it becomes infected with "photonic energy" that Torres has collected to study. Voyager now gets to have its first "Things Go Wrong on the Holodeck" story, a trope that served TNG well - essentially replacing the need for the constant TOS "Well, This Planet Sure Looks Like The Set They Weren't Using Next Door" episodes. The difference here? Voyager happens to have a major character who is also a hologram. Yeah, that's right, this is a Doctor Episode! Wooooo!
Harry Kim's holoprogram is a reenactment of Beowulf, with Kim as the star. The photonic energy has taken over the role of the monster and (predictably) turned off the safety protocols. Kim has vanished, as have Tuvok and Chakotay who went in after him - the Doctor gets to go next. The Doctor, who has never seen anything outside of sickbay, who is essentially a couple of months old, but who has an extentive amount of medical knowledge and a very dry sense of humor, gets to romp around in pre-medieval Denmark and thwart a villain. This episode gets a bit silly, in that good way that Trek sometimes can. It's not too awkward, largely because the Doctor seems to feel no shame.
The photonic energy is actually a life form! This is a Trek twist as old as time, but the purpose of this episode is not to give our intellects a vigorous workout, rather it is to entertain us with a geek who gets to be a hero. And what a delightful geek he is.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Silly episodes are a necessity. I wouldn't want every episode to be silly, but it has to happen from time to time. I am under the impression that the writers think that Neelix qualifies as "silly", and I was very happy that he was not the focus of Voyager's first comic relief episode.
Amanda's Voyager Hair Report: Janeway's bun is almost imperceptibly less severe in this episode, and it is received like the second coming because the previous style bothered her so much. Please don't let them change it back, I want her to keep watching with me.
Monday, December 6, 2010
S1 E10: State of Flux
I'm going to stop trying to avoid spoilers, unless it would be really easy to do so. If you haven't seen these episodes and want a chance to be surprised when viewing them, these reviews probably aren't the best thing to be reading.
Last episode reminded us that there are Maquis crew members, and gave us some more time with Seska. Even if that episode was lousy, I'm grateful that we got that time prior the the Seskasplosion we get here. We actually don't see that many Bajoran Maquis - for the most part, it is an organization made up of the former federation colonists whose land was given away to the Cardassians in a treaty. Typically, the Bajorans who join are just sympathetic to the Maquis plight in light of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor - and/or never stopped fighting the Cardassians as part of the Bajoran resistance. I'm a big fan of both the Bajorans and the Cardassians, and the in-depth look we get on them in DS9. Seska's petulance so far has, as a result, been kind of annoying since she is the Bajoran representative on this show. Not that her delivery/acting has let me down or anything, I'm just annoyed.
Turns out some Kazon (I belive that is the proper pluralization) have gotten their hands on some Federation technology, and gone and blown themselves up as a result of some serious bungling. And Seska is our biggest suspect! Actually, for most of the episode she's our only suspect. Joe Carey shows up again in an effort to give us someone else to cast a weary eye upon, but we never really belive it. Seska's just too guilty. That makes most of the episode a little... stall-y, since we're just waiting to find out Seska did it.
The piece of stolen equipment is a replicator - probably one of trek's top 3 most magical pieces of technology (transporters and holodecks round out that set). I would think that if someone were to smuggle some goodies, they'd start the Kazon a little lower on the tech ladder, not just becase they'd blow themselves up, but also just to string them along a bit. Clearly, the person who snuck it to them (obviously, it was Seska) doesn't have the remotest concern about changing the balance of power in the quadrant.
So guess what? It was Seska all along! Really surprised you, huh? Well, there is a good surprise after all: she's actually a Cardassian sleeper agent, who had infiltrated the Maquis. Chakotay: "So if you [Tuvok] were working for her [Janeway], and she [Seska] was working for the Cardassians, was there anyone on that ship working for me?" That makes a lot of sense, given the depth of her treachery. Giving the Kazon something that powerful straight away, of course she'd be perfectly happy if the Kazon destroyed Voyager. Even better, Seska even sounds more Cardassian, both in content and accent, giving herself a more snakelike posture. The best news? She escapes, so we'll get to see more of the evil, Cardassian Seska.
I do like that the writers explore what Chakotay feels like to have had two traitors on board his ship. Usually that's the kind of thing that Voyager ignores and hopes we won't notice. But Chakotay has a nice talk with Tuvok (who seems to be making friends rapidly, despite his stated disinterest in that activity), and kind of resigns himself to being that guy who was made a fool of twice. At least he never slept with Tuvok. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that. Seska slept with Chakotay back in the day. That's dedication to your cover.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: A bit of continuity/story progression for Voyager.
Amanda's Voyager Hair Report: The wife notes that any time a Voyager woman lets down her hair, she becomes no less than sixty times less ugly.
Last episode reminded us that there are Maquis crew members, and gave us some more time with Seska. Even if that episode was lousy, I'm grateful that we got that time prior the the Seskasplosion we get here. We actually don't see that many Bajoran Maquis - for the most part, it is an organization made up of the former federation colonists whose land was given away to the Cardassians in a treaty. Typically, the Bajorans who join are just sympathetic to the Maquis plight in light of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor - and/or never stopped fighting the Cardassians as part of the Bajoran resistance. I'm a big fan of both the Bajorans and the Cardassians, and the in-depth look we get on them in DS9. Seska's petulance so far has, as a result, been kind of annoying since she is the Bajoran representative on this show. Not that her delivery/acting has let me down or anything, I'm just annoyed.
Turns out some Kazon (I belive that is the proper pluralization) have gotten their hands on some Federation technology, and gone and blown themselves up as a result of some serious bungling. And Seska is our biggest suspect! Actually, for most of the episode she's our only suspect. Joe Carey shows up again in an effort to give us someone else to cast a weary eye upon, but we never really belive it. Seska's just too guilty. That makes most of the episode a little... stall-y, since we're just waiting to find out Seska did it.
The piece of stolen equipment is a replicator - probably one of trek's top 3 most magical pieces of technology (transporters and holodecks round out that set). I would think that if someone were to smuggle some goodies, they'd start the Kazon a little lower on the tech ladder, not just becase they'd blow themselves up, but also just to string them along a bit. Clearly, the person who snuck it to them (obviously, it was Seska) doesn't have the remotest concern about changing the balance of power in the quadrant.
So guess what? It was Seska all along! Really surprised you, huh? Well, there is a good surprise after all: she's actually a Cardassian sleeper agent, who had infiltrated the Maquis. Chakotay: "So if you [Tuvok] were working for her [Janeway], and she [Seska] was working for the Cardassians, was there anyone on that ship working for me?" That makes a lot of sense, given the depth of her treachery. Giving the Kazon something that powerful straight away, of course she'd be perfectly happy if the Kazon destroyed Voyager. Even better, Seska even sounds more Cardassian, both in content and accent, giving herself a more snakelike posture. The best news? She escapes, so we'll get to see more of the evil, Cardassian Seska.
I do like that the writers explore what Chakotay feels like to have had two traitors on board his ship. Usually that's the kind of thing that Voyager ignores and hopes we won't notice. But Chakotay has a nice talk with Tuvok (who seems to be making friends rapidly, despite his stated disinterest in that activity), and kind of resigns himself to being that guy who was made a fool of twice. At least he never slept with Tuvok. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that. Seska slept with Chakotay back in the day. That's dedication to your cover.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: A bit of continuity/story progression for Voyager.
Amanda's Voyager Hair Report: The wife notes that any time a Voyager woman lets down her hair, she becomes no less than sixty times less ugly.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
S1 E09: Prime Factors
The first half of this episode was very uncomfortable. The crew makes contact with a race known for its hospitality (essentially Risa 2.0), and spends the first part being lavished with gifts and attention. The crew is made uneasy with all this generosity, and that feeling very easily spread to me. The leader makes very sleazy passes at Janeway, which she seems a bit put off by, but at the same time disgustingly intrigued by as well. Kim also gets some romancery, but it is pulled off in a much geekier puppy-love kind of way - but as soon as he discovers that this species may have a way home for them he politely informs the woman that sex can wait if there's a chance he can get the crew home.
What I found shocking was that the race introduced here was intended to be a recurring villain, because we know how well that worked with the Ferengi. For those who don't: in TNG, the Ferengi were essentially one big metaphor for how ugly greed is. Completely one-dimensional. And their presentation was so goofy that it didn't work at all, and they were eventually adopted in a more natural role as the comic relief in DS9. Here, the Sikarians are instead so obsessed with hedonism and novelty that they won't give Voyager any help to get back home because they want them around for their entertainment. That is apparently what the writers saw as a great concept for a new villain. Fortuantely, they had enough insight to see that it didn't really work here, and we never have to see them again.
So that's the first half of the episode. For the second half we have a reverse-prime directive sequence, with Janeway hoping to barter for the ability to get back home, and the Sikarians refusing for the reasons stated above (but the reason told to the crew was that it would be against their laws to share the technology). Even when offered an under-the-table deal from a Sikarian political hopeful, she opts out. What is cool and character building is we also have four crew members who all take matters into their own hands for different reasons. Seska, getting more lines as a background character than before, plays the quintessential Maquis who doesn't care about crew integration (and therefore Federation rules), and just wants to get home and give Janeway the finger. Joe Carey's (Remember the guy who was the other option for chief engineer up against Torres? He has lines again) first priority is to get home to his family, and is willing to break the rules of Starfleet to do so. Torres is skeptical at first, but is swayed by the arguments of the others that this really isn't a prime directive situation, and even if they get in trouble, the chance is worth it to get home.
What is really compelling to me is that Tuvok is also willing to help break the rules. Again going to Memory Alpha, you see the debate that the actor, Tim Russ, had with the writing staff about Tuvok's reasons for betraying Janeway. The writers wanted it to be a very cliche "logic led me astray!" motivation, but Russ thought that that was dumb and wanted to play the "logic convinced me to save you from a mutiny by taking the action which you were bound by duty not to." The writers thought that made Tuvok too infallible (and thus challenging to write for) - I think it makes him sound like a person who cautiously thinks things through and can sometimes surprise you, which would be very good for later writing. The writers get their way for the most part, and I think the episode is weakened because of it.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: Uncomfortable episode to watch, without anything else interesting to really distract me.
What I found shocking was that the race introduced here was intended to be a recurring villain, because we know how well that worked with the Ferengi. For those who don't: in TNG, the Ferengi were essentially one big metaphor for how ugly greed is. Completely one-dimensional. And their presentation was so goofy that it didn't work at all, and they were eventually adopted in a more natural role as the comic relief in DS9. Here, the Sikarians are instead so obsessed with hedonism and novelty that they won't give Voyager any help to get back home because they want them around for their entertainment. That is apparently what the writers saw as a great concept for a new villain. Fortuantely, they had enough insight to see that it didn't really work here, and we never have to see them again.
So that's the first half of the episode. For the second half we have a reverse-prime directive sequence, with Janeway hoping to barter for the ability to get back home, and the Sikarians refusing for the reasons stated above (but the reason told to the crew was that it would be against their laws to share the technology). Even when offered an under-the-table deal from a Sikarian political hopeful, she opts out. What is cool and character building is we also have four crew members who all take matters into their own hands for different reasons. Seska, getting more lines as a background character than before, plays the quintessential Maquis who doesn't care about crew integration (and therefore Federation rules), and just wants to get home and give Janeway the finger. Joe Carey's (Remember the guy who was the other option for chief engineer up against Torres? He has lines again) first priority is to get home to his family, and is willing to break the rules of Starfleet to do so. Torres is skeptical at first, but is swayed by the arguments of the others that this really isn't a prime directive situation, and even if they get in trouble, the chance is worth it to get home.
What is really compelling to me is that Tuvok is also willing to help break the rules. Again going to Memory Alpha, you see the debate that the actor, Tim Russ, had with the writing staff about Tuvok's reasons for betraying Janeway. The writers wanted it to be a very cliche "logic led me astray!" motivation, but Russ thought that that was dumb and wanted to play the "logic convinced me to save you from a mutiny by taking the action which you were bound by duty not to." The writers thought that made Tuvok too infallible (and thus challenging to write for) - I think it makes him sound like a person who cautiously thinks things through and can sometimes surprise you, which would be very good for later writing. The writers get their way for the most part, and I think the episode is weakened because of it.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: Uncomfortable episode to watch, without anything else interesting to really distract me.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
S1 E08: Emanations
The Voyager crew finds a gas giant with "habitable asteroids" in its ring system, which is clearly a cost-saving measure because an asteroid by definition does not have sufficient mass to sustain an atmosphere. They just wanted to use their cave set again without needing to come up with some spacesuits. However, this complaint is my only one about this episode.
These asteroids server as a burial ground for a species that lives elsewhere. When a distortion opens up right next to the investigating away team, Kim is accidentally sent back through the portal - which the aliens on the other side see as a return from the "next emanation" (land of the dead). He finds an alien race with very rigid beliefs about the afterlife, who believe they know precisely what happens. Kim's very presence challenges everything they thought they knew. What we get are a nice spread of reactions, both from the aliens and Kim. Kim, for his part, plays the agnostic well: [paraphrasing] Well, yeah, there are dead bodies over there, but man, I don't know what happens to your consciousness when you die! Just because I came from where you dump your bodies doesn't mean I have any answers.
On the part of the aliens, we have the flustered guy in charge of the facility for the dying. He tries to keep Kim quiet, then wants to study him to find some way to reconcile what Kim is telling him versus what he has always known to be true. Even though he acts as the antagonist because he doesn't want to send Kim back, he's not really a bad guy. Another alien, the wife of a man "scheduled to die," reacts in anger to Harry for sowing any seeds of doubt. A third, which the Voyager crew resuscitated in order to try to find Kim, reacts in fear. Even seeing the other side for herself, she has trouble adjusting her world-view to accommodate the new data. Her views are so rigid that either death is exactly everything she'd known, or it is all false.
The fourth alien (okay, it's the first one we meet, but he's the most interesting so I saved him for last) has the most depth. After a bit of adjustment, he can come to terms with the idea of doubt about what happens after death. Here's his problem though: he's just scheduled to die, he's not actually dying. This is where we get an idea of why the aliens views are so rigid; their entire culture is built on the premise that it's okay to choose to die because you're too ill, too depressed, or too much of a burden to others. I mean, if you know for sure what's going to happen when you die (and your religion has a happy afterlife and no anti-suicide clause), why not choose to move along if living is too "inconvenient"? What's more unsettling is that this guy has actually been pressured into choosing death by his family, and now that he has doubt, he is understandably uncertain about going through with the procedure.
Different Treks cope with religion differently. TOS and TNG are both pretty aggressively atheist; see for example Who Watches the Watchers (TNG 3x04) where Picard is all [paraphrasing] Yeah, this whole superstition thing you guys have reverted to in our presence is cute and all, but we gave up nonsense like gods when we grew up as a culture. Those series looove to show how humanity is better than the gods, whether they're cruel and petty like Q, or attention-seeking like Apollo (TOS "Who Mourns for Adonais?" 2x04). Of course, as I've mentioned before, it's easy to cherry pick episodes and say "this is the unifying message of the whole series!" when there are always counter examples due to the multi-writer nature of Trek. Just look at Q - early on, he's very much the model of "gods are corrupted by infinite power," but later (much more engaging uses) like Tapestry and All Good Things, cast him in a much more balanced light. On the whole though, I'll stand by my original assessment, that TOS and TNG take the atheist view, even though most of the time they're nice and non-judgemental.
DS9 is much more agnostic in its approach, largely because its central race, the Bajorans, are so religious... and their gods live right next door. They've even said "Hey guys, what's up?" on occasion. They have religious good guys and religious bad guys, and even the non-religious characters always take a very respectful approach to those who are religious. I feel that in this episode, Voyager is also actively choosing the agnostic approach, and I like it. This episode feels very well balanced, with lots of points of view and no one being a clear bad guy. If this society continues to pressure people into euthanasia after fully assimilating all this new information they've received on the afterlife, I'd probably be wishing Voyager came down harder on them. But it's Voyager, so we move on, and keep heading home.
Watchability: 5/5
Bottom Line: Lots of food for thought in this episode, without being preachy or heavy-handed. Actually downright delicately handled. I liked it. And no Neelix is always a plus.
These asteroids server as a burial ground for a species that lives elsewhere. When a distortion opens up right next to the investigating away team, Kim is accidentally sent back through the portal - which the aliens on the other side see as a return from the "next emanation" (land of the dead). He finds an alien race with very rigid beliefs about the afterlife, who believe they know precisely what happens. Kim's very presence challenges everything they thought they knew. What we get are a nice spread of reactions, both from the aliens and Kim. Kim, for his part, plays the agnostic well: [paraphrasing] Well, yeah, there are dead bodies over there, but man, I don't know what happens to your consciousness when you die! Just because I came from where you dump your bodies doesn't mean I have any answers.
On the part of the aliens, we have the flustered guy in charge of the facility for the dying. He tries to keep Kim quiet, then wants to study him to find some way to reconcile what Kim is telling him versus what he has always known to be true. Even though he acts as the antagonist because he doesn't want to send Kim back, he's not really a bad guy. Another alien, the wife of a man "scheduled to die," reacts in anger to Harry for sowing any seeds of doubt. A third, which the Voyager crew resuscitated in order to try to find Kim, reacts in fear. Even seeing the other side for herself, she has trouble adjusting her world-view to accommodate the new data. Her views are so rigid that either death is exactly everything she'd known, or it is all false.
The fourth alien (okay, it's the first one we meet, but he's the most interesting so I saved him for last) has the most depth. After a bit of adjustment, he can come to terms with the idea of doubt about what happens after death. Here's his problem though: he's just scheduled to die, he's not actually dying. This is where we get an idea of why the aliens views are so rigid; their entire culture is built on the premise that it's okay to choose to die because you're too ill, too depressed, or too much of a burden to others. I mean, if you know for sure what's going to happen when you die (and your religion has a happy afterlife and no anti-suicide clause), why not choose to move along if living is too "inconvenient"? What's more unsettling is that this guy has actually been pressured into choosing death by his family, and now that he has doubt, he is understandably uncertain about going through with the procedure.
Different Treks cope with religion differently. TOS and TNG are both pretty aggressively atheist; see for example Who Watches the Watchers (TNG 3x04) where Picard is all [paraphrasing] Yeah, this whole superstition thing you guys have reverted to in our presence is cute and all, but we gave up nonsense like gods when we grew up as a culture. Those series looove to show how humanity is better than the gods, whether they're cruel and petty like Q, or attention-seeking like Apollo (TOS "Who Mourns for Adonais?" 2x04). Of course, as I've mentioned before, it's easy to cherry pick episodes and say "this is the unifying message of the whole series!" when there are always counter examples due to the multi-writer nature of Trek. Just look at Q - early on, he's very much the model of "gods are corrupted by infinite power," but later (much more engaging uses) like Tapestry and All Good Things, cast him in a much more balanced light. On the whole though, I'll stand by my original assessment, that TOS and TNG take the atheist view, even though most of the time they're nice and non-judgemental.
DS9 is much more agnostic in its approach, largely because its central race, the Bajorans, are so religious... and their gods live right next door. They've even said "Hey guys, what's up?" on occasion. They have religious good guys and religious bad guys, and even the non-religious characters always take a very respectful approach to those who are religious. I feel that in this episode, Voyager is also actively choosing the agnostic approach, and I like it. This episode feels very well balanced, with lots of points of view and no one being a clear bad guy. If this society continues to pressure people into euthanasia after fully assimilating all this new information they've received on the afterlife, I'd probably be wishing Voyager came down harder on them. But it's Voyager, so we move on, and keep heading home.
Watchability: 5/5
Bottom Line: Lots of food for thought in this episode, without being preachy or heavy-handed. Actually downright delicately handled. I liked it. And no Neelix is always a plus.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
S1 E07: Ex Post Facto
Murder mysteries are very tricky to produce when you have an audience who knows the outcome. "What, you mean a major Trek character didn't commit the murder he's being accused of?" It's not a big shock, I'm not spoiling anything you didn't already know. What works here is that it doesn't matter. It's not really a murder mystery, it's all about how we get there.
What we have is a story built around an interesting sci-fi premise; that of a civilization that punishes the guilty by transplanting the victim's memories of his or her death into the perpetrator. An elegant solution if you ask me. And you are, just by being here. However, in this case, the memory is clearly a forgery, since it shows Tom Paris killing another man out of lust for his wife; a woman he met two days ago. The story does not try to avoid casting Paris as the womanizer, which we've already seen that he fancies himself as from the holodeck program he conjured previously. He acts foolishly and with all the restraint of a hormone encrusted adolescent, and brings us some truly excruciatingly teen-drama-esque scenes. According to Memory Alpha, Michael Piller was going for noir when he wrote the episode, but here I think he was closer to Twilight.
What really holds the episode together is Tuvok, who plays the investigator trying to find out what really happened. The self-described "dispassionate" Vulcan is the perfect fit in this case for an impartial seeker of truth. It at first seemed odd to have a Vulcan security chief (and must seem odd to the writers too, since they are always having him do odd-ball sciencey stuff when Kim or Torres or someone else isn't available), but now I'm sold. On top of that, being a Vulcan gives him access to the perfect tool for this particular investigation: the Vulcan Mindmeld! I also like that the Doctor is really perturbed about its use, like Vulcans are just reckless cowboys who roam the galaxy trying to mindmeld with everyone they see. Of note, the mindmeld here seems to go back to using its effect from TOS, which is just a temporary melding of minds, rather than the TNG use, where it forms something of a permanent bond. I'm glad, because that means we could potentially see it more often.
We get a nice little space battle (where Neelix continues to wear his uselessness proudly), and some twists to wrap up the investigation and BAM, we have a good episode. Which was the real surprise, because I distinctly remember hating this one. It could be that I just plain miss the Alien-A-Week format. I love DS9 and Firefly and Battlestar and Babylon 5 but I don't see continuity-heavy long-term-plotline as the only way to do sci-fi. One-offs like this allow us to take a quick look at a species that has a cool punishment technique without examining every aspect of their culture. Not that Voyager is really a shining example of everything you can accomplish with Alien-A-Week, or that it couldn't do with stronger internal consistency, but I'm glad that I watched this episode.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Okay, that 4/5 does involve kind of grimacing through the Paris-and-random-lady-alien parts, but I had a good time. I should probably make a post about what the numbers mean, since actually laying it out might even help me be more consistent. Maybe.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
S1 E06: Eye of the Needle
I don't really want to spoil too much from this episode, because it is good, and you should watch it. I'm hoping that Voyager has hit a stride here, The Cloud being decent and this one being outright good. The "A" plot here is that they've found a wormhole, too tiny to travel through, but just big enough to communicate through - with a Romulan on the other side. This wormhole is their first glimpse at home, and Kim is absolutely bubbly about it. In fact, everyone's reactions are well handled. Kim and Torres have a good scene together while working out the mechanics of communicating through the wormhole, and we get some nice background on the two.
The "B-plot" is about the Doctor! I think this is the first time I've liked both A and B plots in one episode, instead of needing to look away half the time. People are jerks to the Doctor because he's a hologram - including Janeway - and Kes, who has been training as a medic, speaks up for him. She's even growing on me now, though her best scenes are always with the Doctor.
There is one big missed opportunity here: when the crew makes personal messages to send home, we don't get to see them. Lots of solid character development time that we could've had, but I think the writers must have decided that they couldn't do those messages justice with the characters not fully formed yet. I suppose it was better not to include them than to put them in and do them poorly, but it's a shame they couldn't be there.
Both plots even resolve in an acceptable manner. The wormhole part ends with a clever twist, and while we knew they weren't going to get home in the first season, it doesn't cheapen the rest of the episode. There's another twist that is tacked on at the very end that I don't think was entirely necessary, but I'm not terribly bothered by it. And the doctor begins to come to terms with his new future in a satisfying but open-ended way.
So the writing is a lot better, but you know what else is? The pacing. Several of the previous episodes have suffered from poor pacing, with events and character choices seeming to just happen so that the episode will last longer. With Eye of the Needle, everything happens for a reason and the plot flows naturally, with no wasted time. Of course, it helps that there is no Neelix in the entire episode.
Watchability: 5/5
Bottom Line: Watch this one.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
S1 E05: The Cloud
We start with Neelix again, and again he is annoying, and again Janeway is very rude to him for daring to ignore starfleet protocol. Once more, I'm starting to feel a little bad for him, but just like last time, I'll stop before the episode is done. Hrmph.
Voyager finds a pretty pink nebula, and decides to fly right in so that Janeway can get the replicators working again and ditch that furry troll Neelix. Okay, I'm being snarky, I'll stop. In fairness, this episode is continuing the theme of limited resources, which is plenty of reason to go somewhere where they might get more fuel. And that somewhere is an interesting nebula that seems to have some order to the chaos inside it - but before we can find out more, the ship makes its exit, so it won't be destroyed. A reasonable move. Meanwhile, Neelix is ranting about how the crew is made of "idiots" and making out with Kes. We won't dwell on that.
What is kind of strange is the intermission in the middle of the episode. We get some good Tom-Harry time, which we haven't really since Caretaker. Paris is a little creepy with Kim at first, but Kim's okay with that, because he reveals he's a little strange too: "I remember being in my mother's womb." Sure, weird, but awkwardly likable, just like we expect of Kim. What's really odd is that, in the middle of an energy shortage, they fire up the holodeck without a second thought.
We also have Chakotay trying to help Janeway find her spirit guide (a lizard). It would have worked better if Janeway hadn't delivered all her lines as if she were given the direction to address a small child in as condescending a manner possible, but we get nice insight into what the Native Americans have been up to since heading into space to set up colonies in the demilitarized zone. Apparently now they use tech gizmos to reach the spirit plane, for which I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was all ready for a fight to develop over whether or not Chakotay should be able to take hiskamala extract psychotropic drugs on a starfleet ship for religious purposes. It may seem like the easy way out, but I am eternally grateful to the writers for their restraint. The scene closes with a great throwaway line about what Torres did with her spirit animal. I don't really remember caring about Torres one way or the other the first time through, but this time I'm very much enjoying her.
As abruptly as it came, the intermission is over, and we're back to the nebula. It turns out, it's alive! Which is cool. The crew needs to fix a problem they caused, which is the right and good thing to do. Meanwhile, we have some insufferable Neelix-on-the-bridge-time cancels out some earlier, brilliant silent acting by the Doctor. He can make any scene work by just being a moving picture in the corner of the screen. They generate an interesting technobabble solution which makes enough sense (as far as these things go) to be believeable within the world of trek - but they end up not gaining the energy they'd hoped they would, instead they're down 20%. At this rate, they won't be able to turn on the lights in a week.
The episode ends with Janeway being invited to the holodeck by Kim in a nice enough gesture. She makes everyone a little uncomfortable, but we get a nice "aw-shucks" ending when she throws off her mantle of command for the evening to enjoy some time hustling her crew at pool. Though if it were Neelix who'd conjured up a holographic prostitute who came onto her, I have a feeling he'd be out the airlock by now.
Anyways, the whole senior staff is in the holodeck and no one seems bothered by the energy being wasted. This isn't continuity; it's one thing if they forget all about the energy shortage for the next episode, but this is like 5 minutes later! Maybe I'm reading this scene wrong though. The writers can't have missed the implications of holodeck energy usage. Maybe, with this scene, they're showing us a crew, used to the comforts of the Federation, unable to comprehend not using the holodeck. I could be giving the writers too much credit here, but I actually like this interpretation better. Instead of a smarmy ending, we have a "hollow victory" ending, where the crew is happy and deluded, postponing rude awakenings for later. Like business tycoons throwing an extravagant dinner gala a week after the 1929 stock market crash, thinking that surely this depression thing won't last. Yeah, haunting.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: While I didn't focus on it much in the review, I did like the Cloud/Nebula/Alien idea a fair bit, and that was really most of the episode. If you can get up and fix a snack during the Neelix scenes, this is quite a decent episode.
Voyager finds a pretty pink nebula, and decides to fly right in so that Janeway can get the replicators working again and ditch that furry troll Neelix. Okay, I'm being snarky, I'll stop. In fairness, this episode is continuing the theme of limited resources, which is plenty of reason to go somewhere where they might get more fuel. And that somewhere is an interesting nebula that seems to have some order to the chaos inside it - but before we can find out more, the ship makes its exit, so it won't be destroyed. A reasonable move. Meanwhile, Neelix is ranting about how the crew is made of "idiots" and making out with Kes. We won't dwell on that.
What is kind of strange is the intermission in the middle of the episode. We get some good Tom-Harry time, which we haven't really since Caretaker. Paris is a little creepy with Kim at first, but Kim's okay with that, because he reveals he's a little strange too: "I remember being in my mother's womb." Sure, weird, but awkwardly likable, just like we expect of Kim. What's really odd is that, in the middle of an energy shortage, they fire up the holodeck without a second thought.
We also have Chakotay trying to help Janeway find her spirit guide (a lizard). It would have worked better if Janeway hadn't delivered all her lines as if she were given the direction to address a small child in as condescending a manner possible, but we get nice insight into what the Native Americans have been up to since heading into space to set up colonies in the demilitarized zone. Apparently now they use tech gizmos to reach the spirit plane, for which I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was all ready for a fight to develop over whether or not Chakotay should be able to take his
As abruptly as it came, the intermission is over, and we're back to the nebula. It turns out, it's alive! Which is cool. The crew needs to fix a problem they caused, which is the right and good thing to do. Meanwhile, we have some insufferable Neelix-on-the-bridge-time cancels out some earlier, brilliant silent acting by the Doctor. He can make any scene work by just being a moving picture in the corner of the screen. They generate an interesting technobabble solution which makes enough sense (as far as these things go) to be believeable within the world of trek - but they end up not gaining the energy they'd hoped they would, instead they're down 20%. At this rate, they won't be able to turn on the lights in a week.
The episode ends with Janeway being invited to the holodeck by Kim in a nice enough gesture. She makes everyone a little uncomfortable, but we get a nice "aw-shucks" ending when she throws off her mantle of command for the evening to enjoy some time hustling her crew at pool. Though if it were Neelix who'd conjured up a holographic prostitute who came onto her, I have a feeling he'd be out the airlock by now.
Anyways, the whole senior staff is in the holodeck and no one seems bothered by the energy being wasted. This isn't continuity; it's one thing if they forget all about the energy shortage for the next episode, but this is like 5 minutes later! Maybe I'm reading this scene wrong though. The writers can't have missed the implications of holodeck energy usage. Maybe, with this scene, they're showing us a crew, used to the comforts of the Federation, unable to comprehend not using the holodeck. I could be giving the writers too much credit here, but I actually like this interpretation better. Instead of a smarmy ending, we have a "hollow victory" ending, where the crew is happy and deluded, postponing rude awakenings for later. Like business tycoons throwing an extravagant dinner gala a week after the 1929 stock market crash, thinking that surely this depression thing won't last. Yeah, haunting.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: While I didn't focus on it much in the review, I did like the Cloud/Nebula/Alien idea a fair bit, and that was really most of the episode. If you can get up and fix a snack during the Neelix scenes, this is quite a decent episode.
S1 E04: Phage
So, Neelix is annoying. I get that. After all, his overly ingratiating, obsequious manner annoys me. It actually bothers me more that all the characters on the show can't seem to stand having him around either (Kes doesn't count). Do the writers feel the need to show us exactly how intolerable he is? Why is he still here then? It's not like he's useful or competent. And when he actually has a good idea with the galley, Janeway still hates him so much for inconveniencing her that she practically bites his head off. I actually started feeling bad for him...
...And then the rest of the episode happened.
Neelix gets his lungs stolen in the first five minutes, and most of the rest of the episode explores different aspects of life sustaining measures wherein quality of life is greatly sacrificed. This is important stuff! Except the recipient is Neelix, who spends his time throwing any goodwill he has generated in me directly in the septic tank by showing off his selfishness, jealousy, pettiness, and stunning lack of insight - only one of which we've seen so far before. He's dug a big hole here.
But enough about Neelix. There's other stuff in this episode, better stuff, so let's focus on that. When risking their lives by chasing the alien ship to get that one guy's lungs back, the crew is essentially stuck in a house of mirrors inside an asteroid with their quarry. In most shows, the solution is to either (a) break all the mirrors, or (b) find the image that isn't mirrored. Chakotay's bouncing phaser solution is a pretty clever way out. I liked it.
The Doctor also gets plenty of screen time, which is always a plus in my book. His personality is basically a charicature of the bedside-manner-less-sour-doctor, but Picardo's performances are hilariously well delivered and give The Doctor a little more depth. I also feel like he works well in contrast with Kes's performance - even making her more interesting when he's around.
The concept for the Vidiians is also cool. Realistically, a disease as terrible as the Phage probably would erode the moral foundations of a peaceful society - and because this is Star Trek, we can think about that possibility without it happening to us. I would have been much happier with this episode if the Vidiians and their culture took center stage, rather than a barely a footnote at the end.
Unfortunately, much like the previous episode, this one takes the easy way out at the end. When Janeway has the Vidiians helpless at the end, she lets them go (all the while threatening to kill them if she sees them again - like any villain would take that seriously) because it would be wrong to steal back the organs because now the Vidiians are using them! Really? I mean, it's a bit of a quandry to be sure, but that's kind of like not taking back Locutus because the Borg are using him now. How could we possibly justify taking their leader away? Just because he used to be ours, that doesn't make it right!
Anyways, we get a Voyager Happy Ending because they did the right thing, so the Vidiians repay their kindness and fix Neelix, who manages to be ungrateful all the way back to life.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: It's a Neelix episode.
...And then the rest of the episode happened.
Neelix gets his lungs stolen in the first five minutes, and most of the rest of the episode explores different aspects of life sustaining measures wherein quality of life is greatly sacrificed. This is important stuff! Except the recipient is Neelix, who spends his time throwing any goodwill he has generated in me directly in the septic tank by showing off his selfishness, jealousy, pettiness, and stunning lack of insight - only one of which we've seen so far before. He's dug a big hole here.
But enough about Neelix. There's other stuff in this episode, better stuff, so let's focus on that. When risking their lives by chasing the alien ship to get that one guy's lungs back, the crew is essentially stuck in a house of mirrors inside an asteroid with their quarry. In most shows, the solution is to either (a) break all the mirrors, or (b) find the image that isn't mirrored. Chakotay's bouncing phaser solution is a pretty clever way out. I liked it.
The Doctor also gets plenty of screen time, which is always a plus in my book. His personality is basically a charicature of the bedside-manner-less-sour-doctor, but Picardo's performances are hilariously well delivered and give The Doctor a little more depth. I also feel like he works well in contrast with Kes's performance - even making her more interesting when he's around.
The concept for the Vidiians is also cool. Realistically, a disease as terrible as the Phage probably would erode the moral foundations of a peaceful society - and because this is Star Trek, we can think about that possibility without it happening to us. I would have been much happier with this episode if the Vidiians and their culture took center stage, rather than a barely a footnote at the end.
Unfortunately, much like the previous episode, this one takes the easy way out at the end. When Janeway has the Vidiians helpless at the end, she lets them go (all the while threatening to kill them if she sees them again - like any villain would take that seriously) because it would be wrong to steal back the organs because now the Vidiians are using them! Really? I mean, it's a bit of a quandry to be sure, but that's kind of like not taking back Locutus because the Borg are using him now. How could we possibly justify taking their leader away? Just because he used to be ours, that doesn't make it right!
Anyways, we get a Voyager Happy Ending because they did the right thing, so the Vidiians repay their kindness and fix Neelix, who manages to be ungrateful all the way back to life.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: It's a Neelix episode.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
S1 E03: Time and Again
And we have our first Voyager Reset Button (VRB) episode! In fairness, the first TOS Plot Rehash episode of TNG was episode #2...
For the most part, I'm trying to avoid too much plot synopsis in these reviews, sticking instead to my reactions. In this case, however, here's a little background: The Voyager detects a cataclysmic explosion on a nearby planet and goes to investigate. They find a lifeless planet and beam down to investigate. Janeway and Paris are transported about 1 day into the past, before the planet was destroyed, and the rest of the episode consists of an attempt by the crew to rescue them, and an attempt by them to be rescued.
I went to the memory alpha page on this episode, hoping to get an idea of what the writers were thinking. I found this:
"The original pitch was what if you were in Dresden twenty-four hours before the fire bombing and knew it was coming? What would you do? That just seemed like an irresistible kind of a premise... It was just a compelling story with a high-concept idea that we couldn't resist." - Jeri Taylor
What? What?! They hardly explore that premise at all. Paris suggests, reasonably, that they should try to stop it, but Janeway shuts him down, citing the Prime Directive, and that's the end of the story until the plot makes them think that their presence is what made the explosion happen. This is probably my least favorite use of the Prime Directive - also to be found in Homeward (TNG 7x13). It just feels like the writers are using the Prime Directive as a cheap plot trick to tie the characters' hands and fill screen time. I mean, look at Pen Pals (TNG 2x15). Instead of just saying "oh we can't do that", the senior staff sits down and has a thoughtful discussion about it, and then decides to break with the directive in that case. But here and in Homeward, it is just used as a source for character conflict, and reflects poorly on a rule that was put in place for the protection of less technologically advanced peoples, not as a way to say "let them die". Oh well.
So that's part one of my beef with this episode.
Part two has to do with the resolution. Basically, to spoil the rest of the plot, it turns out that the crew's rescue attempt is actually what causes the explosion, and Janeway changing her mind and going to the source to try to stop the explosion is actually what brought the crew to that area to try to rescue her. Awesome so far, right? How are they going to cope with being ultimately responsible for the destruction of an entire civilization, even if they didn't mean to? They could even have worked in some defense for the interpretation of the Prime Directive as a way to not help the doomed.
But, instead, Janeway figures out what's going on, and closes the rescue rift with her phaser. Magically, everything gets undone, the planet reverts to normal, and only Kes has any idea what happened (but is Guinanly vague about it). This episode had so much potential it hurts. If they had stuck with the ending where the crew had mistakenly destroyed the planet, it might have been a bit too heavy for episode #3, but instead we're left with no lessons learned, everyone ready to make the same mistakes again.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: Its worth is not in what they did with the plot, but what they could have done. Good to think about afterwards, but not during.
For the most part, I'm trying to avoid too much plot synopsis in these reviews, sticking instead to my reactions. In this case, however, here's a little background: The Voyager detects a cataclysmic explosion on a nearby planet and goes to investigate. They find a lifeless planet and beam down to investigate. Janeway and Paris are transported about 1 day into the past, before the planet was destroyed, and the rest of the episode consists of an attempt by the crew to rescue them, and an attempt by them to be rescued.
I went to the memory alpha page on this episode, hoping to get an idea of what the writers were thinking. I found this:
"The original pitch was what if you were in Dresden twenty-four hours before the fire bombing and knew it was coming? What would you do? That just seemed like an irresistible kind of a premise... It was just a compelling story with a high-concept idea that we couldn't resist." - Jeri Taylor
What? What?! They hardly explore that premise at all. Paris suggests, reasonably, that they should try to stop it, but Janeway shuts him down, citing the Prime Directive, and that's the end of the story until the plot makes them think that their presence is what made the explosion happen. This is probably my least favorite use of the Prime Directive - also to be found in Homeward (TNG 7x13). It just feels like the writers are using the Prime Directive as a cheap plot trick to tie the characters' hands and fill screen time. I mean, look at Pen Pals (TNG 2x15). Instead of just saying "oh we can't do that", the senior staff sits down and has a thoughtful discussion about it, and then decides to break with the directive in that case. But here and in Homeward, it is just used as a source for character conflict, and reflects poorly on a rule that was put in place for the protection of less technologically advanced peoples, not as a way to say "let them die". Oh well.
So that's part one of my beef with this episode.
Part two has to do with the resolution. Basically, to spoil the rest of the plot, it turns out that the crew's rescue attempt is actually what causes the explosion, and Janeway changing her mind and going to the source to try to stop the explosion is actually what brought the crew to that area to try to rescue her. Awesome so far, right? How are they going to cope with being ultimately responsible for the destruction of an entire civilization, even if they didn't mean to? They could even have worked in some defense for the interpretation of the Prime Directive as a way to not help the doomed.
But, instead, Janeway figures out what's going on, and closes the rescue rift with her phaser. Magically, everything gets undone, the planet reverts to normal, and only Kes has any idea what happened (but is Guinanly vague about it). This episode had so much potential it hurts. If they had stuck with the ending where the crew had mistakenly destroyed the planet, it might have been a bit too heavy for episode #3, but instead we're left with no lessons learned, everyone ready to make the same mistakes again.
Watchability: 2/5
Bottom Line: Its worth is not in what they did with the plot, but what they could have done. Good to think about afterwards, but not during.
S1 E02: Parallax
There are two major things going on in this episode.
(1) Bad Science
(2) Good Character Development
Let's start with (1), so that I end on a good note, shall we?
Quantum Singularity is typically trekese for a black hole. To give this part of the episode any credit, we're going to be assuming that it actually means "magical space phenomenon that does magical things for no reason." They do use some terms like 'event horizon' that suggest that this magical space phenomenon is similar to a black hole, but do not be fooled. This event horizon is a physical barrier, not simply the point at which light will never reach an outside viewer. In fact, they visually detect an object that is beyond the EH, which starts off the fun.
While a black hole might bend time (we've never actually explored one, so who knows, right?), we don't know. What we do know is that it has strong enough gravity that is can slow the speed of light. That's powerful enough for me! And we can pull off some pretty cool plot tricks, just with that effect, even some of the "seeing yourself in the future" bits that they do here. It's an especially interesting mind-puzzle when you also include a ship that can move faster than light.
Instead, the writers decided that it would be more compelling to let this object magically bend time and space so that ships magically get caught in loops and outside observers can see two copies of ships that aren't moving faster than light. So this Quantum Singularity can do some cool stuff, it's cool, but I think that it would be a lot more awesome if it could do these things for actual science reasons, not just technobabble reasons.
That is not to say that other Treks are exempt from this sort of writing behavior. They're not. But I'm not reviewing them right now. And, in my opinion, the other part of the episode at least sort of excuses it.
As for (2), we get the power struggle regarding the choice of a chief engineer. It's one thing to join the crews, that makes sense that they should work together while they're stranded together. What is kind of weird is expecting the Maquis to integrate and begin following Starfleet rules. Chakotay thinks that that is unreasonable, to an extent, and he is right. He stands up for his crew - and Janeway 'reminds' him that they're not his crew anymore. He thinks she's being ridiculous, and again he's right.
I do not remember Chakotay fondly. So far, I'm not sure why. He's behaved rationally, and has nicely straddled the line between friend and commander with his crew (which one would expect to be blurrier for Maquis). And he's also dealt with Janeway's brand of crazy pretty well.
As for B'Elanna, she reminds me of a lot of people who are annoyed that people who can play the management's games get promoted, while the hard-working and talented (but not exactly socially gifted) people keep getting grunt-work. She's Dilbert, only half-Klingon and attractive. And she does a good job of convincing Janeway through her actions that engineering should be a meritocracy.
Overall, the character part of the episode gives me a lot to like, growing naturally and resolving satisfactorily. It does not, however, do any favors for Janeway, an already strongly unlikeable character, to essentially cast her as the villain.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Good, as long as you can get part the magical space stuff. Which you can. You saw how much it bothered me, and I still ended up enjoying the episode. Really, the writers were just using the Singularity as a background for the power struggle. Could the episode have been better if both parts were good? Sure. But that's what happens when you have a trillion different writers. Sometimes the science is the focus, sometimes it isn't.
(1) Bad Science
(2) Good Character Development
Let's start with (1), so that I end on a good note, shall we?
Quantum Singularity is typically trekese for a black hole. To give this part of the episode any credit, we're going to be assuming that it actually means "magical space phenomenon that does magical things for no reason." They do use some terms like 'event horizon' that suggest that this magical space phenomenon is similar to a black hole, but do not be fooled. This event horizon is a physical barrier, not simply the point at which light will never reach an outside viewer. In fact, they visually detect an object that is beyond the EH, which starts off the fun.
While a black hole might bend time (we've never actually explored one, so who knows, right?), we don't know. What we do know is that it has strong enough gravity that is can slow the speed of light. That's powerful enough for me! And we can pull off some pretty cool plot tricks, just with that effect, even some of the "seeing yourself in the future" bits that they do here. It's an especially interesting mind-puzzle when you also include a ship that can move faster than light.
Instead, the writers decided that it would be more compelling to let this object magically bend time and space so that ships magically get caught in loops and outside observers can see two copies of ships that aren't moving faster than light. So this Quantum Singularity can do some cool stuff, it's cool, but I think that it would be a lot more awesome if it could do these things for actual science reasons, not just technobabble reasons.
That is not to say that other Treks are exempt from this sort of writing behavior. They're not. But I'm not reviewing them right now. And, in my opinion, the other part of the episode at least sort of excuses it.
As for (2), we get the power struggle regarding the choice of a chief engineer. It's one thing to join the crews, that makes sense that they should work together while they're stranded together. What is kind of weird is expecting the Maquis to integrate and begin following Starfleet rules. Chakotay thinks that that is unreasonable, to an extent, and he is right. He stands up for his crew - and Janeway 'reminds' him that they're not his crew anymore. He thinks she's being ridiculous, and again he's right.
I do not remember Chakotay fondly. So far, I'm not sure why. He's behaved rationally, and has nicely straddled the line between friend and commander with his crew (which one would expect to be blurrier for Maquis). And he's also dealt with Janeway's brand of crazy pretty well.
As for B'Elanna, she reminds me of a lot of people who are annoyed that people who can play the management's games get promoted, while the hard-working and talented (but not exactly socially gifted) people keep getting grunt-work. She's Dilbert, only half-Klingon and attractive. And she does a good job of convincing Janeway through her actions that engineering should be a meritocracy.
Overall, the character part of the episode gives me a lot to like, growing naturally and resolving satisfactorily. It does not, however, do any favors for Janeway, an already strongly unlikeable character, to essentially cast her as the villain.
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Good, as long as you can get part the magical space stuff. Which you can. You saw how much it bothered me, and I still ended up enjoying the episode. Really, the writers were just using the Singularity as a background for the power struggle. Could the episode have been better if both parts were good? Sure. But that's what happens when you have a trillion different writers. Sometimes the science is the focus, sometimes it isn't.
Monday, November 22, 2010
S1 E01: Caretaker
So, here it is, the pilot episode.
It's actually a very solid Trek Episode.
The first part does a decent job of introducing the characters. Particularly good was the first Paris/Kim scene, which was helped a lot by Quark. We get information about the characters without too much exposition.
"Oh god, I'd forgotten about her voice," a quote from my wife from the first scene with Janeway.
Why couldn't Paris be Nicholas Locarno? I mean, there are reasons offered by that link, but I'd forgotten that they even went so far as to give the two essentially the same backstory. Not a big deal, I just don't get it.
A note: every crew member who is a jerk to Paris dies. Let that be a lesson to others.
The Caretaker's illusion is pretty classicly Trek odd-choice-for-a-setting. Of everything in the computer's database, the Caretaker chose this? The end of the scene is pretty sinister, and gets you ready for the entire rest of the 2-part episode to be an illusion - I'll spoil this: thankfully, it isn't.
Our first Tuvok/Neelix encounter reminded me a lot of one of the things I liked about DS9: the banter. Even in the rockier first season, you could count on lively back and forth between, at the very least, Odo and Quark. The mix of contempt and grudging respect must've made their dialogue particularly fun to write, and the actors pulled it off well. I could talk all day about how much I like the DS9 scriptwriting (don't even get me started on Bashir and Garak), so I won't. This space is for Voyager.
The first time around, Neelix annoyed me more than Wesley annoyed most other Trek fans. So far, he's a bit grating, but his exchanges with Tuvok have kept the jury out. Tuvok nails the Vulcan condescension, but rather than fight it like McCoy, Neelix embraces it in a way that must be infuriating. And even better: Tim Russ is good enough at Vulcan that he doesn't act infuriated. We know he's frustrated, because we know Vulcans, and he's with it enough to let that be enough.
It's been a couple days since I watched the episode, so I'll just insert this here: The Doctor is awesome from the start. For every time Janeway uncomfortably moves her face around trying to show some emotion, The Doctor makes everything better with a flash of his grimace. His timing and delivery are excellent. You also get the impression that they've got some real life ER doctors around, because his humor and dialogue is reminiscent of many of the ones I've met.
We glaze over Neelix's betrayal, but that's OK because the Kazon are clearly bad guys. The Kazon feel more like a one-off villain here, but the goofy makeup doesn't really bother me.
Kes quickly establishes herself as the Deanna of the series, and we move on. The Ocampan society is pretty interesting - at one point, the leader refers to something like "a hundred generations" which, when you think about it, is not really that long. It's cool to think how much faster something like improved psychic powers could become something of legend in such a society. To me, this is Trek; interesting new civilizations that you can just think about the ramifications of elements like a short lifespan for hours afterwards, even if they don't explore it much in this particular episode.
The resolution of the episode with the array is interesting too, but feels a bit cheap if you think too much about it. Couldn't they have used those explosives on the Kazon, and taken their time getting the array running and set it to blow once they returned home? It doesn't really matter, the point is that the crew in this show is not made of the kind of people who would sell out an entire race for their own benefit. Also classic Trek.
The clean-up at the end doesn't sit very well with me though. They integrate awfully quickly (I mean, uniforms right away?), as if they've come to terms with being stranded for 75 years right away. In the Trek universe, where fantastical things happen every episode, you'd think the characters wouldn't grasp the reality of the situation immediately. This is all stuff they could have put off for a later episode; distribution of uniforms to the maquis would have made a nice B-plot later on. It feels like the writers are just cynically getting ready for a continuity-less show from the start. Not that I think continuity is the be-all-end-all of television. I love TNG and it has next to none. But Voyager has a premise that is built for continuity, and more of it could have gone a long way.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Good Trek elements, several compelling members of the crew, and the scriptwriting isn't bad if you're OK with the cleanup.
About This Blog
I want to like Star Trek: Voyager.
I tried when it first came out. I really did. So did my dad. We were rabid TNG fans, didn't mind DS9*, and we were excited about more Trek. Three seasons later, the new Whose Line Is It Anyways? came on the air, in the same time slot. We told ourselves that we'd watch half of Voyager, then switch to Whose Line if we weren't invested yet.
That's how we started watching only 30 minutes of Voyager a week. Eventually, less than a season later, those 30 minutes became no minutes.
Years later, I tried watching individual Voyager episodes, hand picking ones that were on "best of Voyager" lists. This attempt actually made things worse. Most of these were among the infamous Voyager Reset Button (VRB) episodes, where an hour passes and at the end all the events of the episode are magically reverted. Worse, because I didn't care about the characters, I'd often find that while the plot synopsis sounded interesting, the execution would let me down. I became an even more outspoken critic of Voyager, because I could cite examples of Voyager Heresy.
Now I'm sure, as Trek fans, you've all met the Anti-Trek Sci-Fi Fan. The one who thinks that liking Trek would somehow diminish Babylon 5 in some way. You can like both, people! I've seen exhaustive essays about Star Trek being racist because some one-off writer used the Prime Directive as a cheap plot trick instead of a source of intellectual discussion. We all know that the writing of Trek can be schizophrenic due to the large number of different voices contributing to it, but to the ATSFF, each bad episode erases everything good about all the the series and movies.
I'm worried I've become that guy, but within Trekdom.
I've become the Anti-Voyager Trek Fan.
My wife remembers Voyager much more fondly than I do. It was her first Star Trek, and, while she never watched the whole series, it carries a bit of nostalgia for that. We watched all of Firefly and Battlestar (redux) together and loved them, and she convinced me to give B5 a chance. We really enjoyed going through the whole series. Then, I got her to try TNG (skipping most of the first 2 seasons), and it was a hit. Then we watched DS9, and it blew us away. I remember liking it well enough the first time, but I didn't watch it religiously, and missed most of the last couple seasons.
What if the same thing happens with Voyager?
Well, we're going to do it. We're netflixing the whole thing, top to bottom. And I'm going to share my experiences with you. Because it is worth giving things another chance, whether it is some televised sci-fi series, or calculus, or a book, or whatever.
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