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.
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