| The 37's | 1 |
| Initiations | 4 |
| Projections | 4 |
| Elogium | 1 |
| Non Sequitur | 1 |
| Twisted | 3 |
| Parturition | 1 |
| Persistence of Vision | 4 |
| Tattoo | 3 |
| Cold Fire | 5 |
| Maneuvers | 4 |
| Resistance | 4 |
| Prototype | 5 |
| Alliances | 4 |
| Threshold | 1 |
| Meld | 4 |
| Dreadnought | 4 |
| Death Wish | 3 |
| Lifesigns | 2 |
| Investigations | 3 |
| Deadlock | 4 |
| Innocence | 4 |
| The Thaw | 5 |
| Tuvix | 1 |
| Resolutions | 3 |
| Basics, Part I | 5 |
| Average Score | 3.2 |
This season sure was a roller-coaster. After not giving any season one episodes a 1/5, season two clocks in with a dismal six of them. Right around the time of Parturition, I wasn't sure I'd have the stamina to keep going, with four of the first eight episodes earning that lowest of watchability scores. Fortunately, the writers finally got some momentum going with Persistence of Vision, and I'm actually looking forward to season three.
The Maquis conflict was dealt with in a more satisfying manner this season in Alliances, but it still just disappears when it would be inconvenient. I don't really understand why the writers even included the Maquis ship in the show's concept if they didn't really want to use the division of the crew much.
This season is the last to feature the Vidiians OR the Kazon as recurring villains. I've gone into my feelings on them in several of the episode reviews, but this seems like a fitting place to recap those reactions. On paper, I like the idea of the Vidiians more. They have the set-up to be a very complex antagonist: the remains of a once-great civilization, worn down by years of disease, now driven by the overwhelming drive to survive. It seems like you could trust them to a point, until their self-interest kicks in and then you'd be out a pair of lungs. A single episode that actually explored that line would have been great. Instead, they're just bunch of thugs who steal organs, or they're completely nice people like Denara Pel. There's so much room for the gray area in between those two extremes, but we never get to see it.
The Kazon, on the other hand, aren't really much more than Klingons with
Several episodes this season shifted a lot of the acting demands onto guest stars. It was a gamble that payed off for Resistance, Meld/Basics, and The Thaw: each of those episodes had very demanding roles for the guest actors, and in each one they carried the show. It didn't always pay off though: I wasn't terribly impressed by Quinn in Death Wish, and Tuvix led his episode to a spectacular failure. However, in a full length season, there's plenty of time for these one-offs while still giving individual characters time to shine.
This season also marks the departure of Michael Piller, a long-time Trek writer, from the writing staff of Voyager. Now, Piller certainly has a couple of flops to his name (Time and Again and Insurrection come to mind), but even in those examples I feel that the problem was more in the execution than in the concept. Certainly, there can be little dispute that his finest hours have enriched the Trek universe greatly. Whenever I have read or heard commentary by him, it is clear that his heart was in the right place when it came to writing Trek, and that even on the episodes that he did not get credit for, I'm sure having his voice on the creative team was a good thing. The Lon Suder arc (he was responsible for both Meld and Basics) is a great note to end on though, so there will always be that at least. I'll close this part with a quote from an interview with him, where he is responding to a question that asks if Trek should be following the lead of other contemporary sci-fi shows, and get darker/grittier:
"...there are some who believe that we have to follow that trend. My feeling is that this franchise has the unique power to make people feel good. And that is one of its greatest secrets of success. I think you make people feel good by showing smart, effective heroes facing moral dilemmas and growing as they triumph."
Watchability: 3/5
Bottom Line: Even though this season had more than its share of low points, it picks up a lot of momentum halfway through. I still expect more out of people who have been writing Trek for so long at this point, so despite the great episodes we do get there is plenty of room for improvement.
Character Status: (Edit - I have gone back and ordered this list as I did for the Season 4 evaluation)
9. Neelix: I am so so so so so glad that they dropped the Neelix-Kes-Paris love triangle. It was one of the most obnoxious Trek plots ever, and made an annoying character like Neelix even less tolerable. Since they dropped it, they haven't used Neelix as much, but for the most part, he's been harmless. The "buffoon who unwittingly helps solve the problem" role he takes in Threshold and Prototype is a little tired, but again, harmless. He has no entries as awesome as Jetrel this season, but at least Parturition, Elogium, and Twisted feel like they happened a long time ago.
8. Kathryn Janeway: Everything I said in Cathexis still fits. Unfortunately, her condescending manner has taken another ugly turn in this season: particularly in the first half, she had several opportunities to pontificate to her flock. When you combine the condescension with preaching, it becomes a new, even less tolerable abomination. Her acting also isn't really improving. Sure, she isn't terrible in Resolutions and Resistance, but that's because she's put in different situations. The thing is, with someone like Bashir, who is terrible in season one of DS9, he was at least a pretty new actor, he just needed the experience to grow into the role. Mulgrew is someone who has been acting for a long time. Over the course of her career, she has somehow convinced herself that what she does is in some way "good."
7. Chakotay: I opined in the last season review that I wished he were a little more like Mal Reynolds. After drawing the connection between the two, it has been difficult not to be disappointed in Chakotay. He just doesn't act like he was the captain of a rebel ship. Initiations and Maneuvers are both decent Chakotay vehicles, but they both take his character in different directions.
6. Tom Paris: Right now, Paris is just the "action episode character." He's not a bad actor, but he hasn't had a chance to do much acting. Persistence of Vision and Threshold give some decent, if brief, glances into his character, but most of the time he's just arriving on a shuttle a little too late to be the one to save the ship (see: Investigations, Basics).
5. Harry Kim: Kim has a couple annoying uses this season, particularly in Resolutions and Non Sequitur, but on the whole I'm happy with his direction. He's vulnerable without being useless, and his excitement with exploration is contagious.
4. Kes: Kes was a lot more useful this season, and less of a Deanna Troi clone. Her learning aptitude fits nicely with the Ocampan age limit, and makes her very handy to have around. I'd like to see more of the mentoring relationship between her and Tuvok, and she works very well opposite the Doctor too.
3. The Doctor: I love his competence, his arrogance, his delivery, his timing, his everything. My one concern is that I hope the writers don't take his character in the direction they did in Lifesigns again (or at least, too often). It is possible to do the "The Doctor as a newly sentient being who is exploring what that means" thing without making it a "The Doctor wants to be a human and annoying" thing. More Heroes and Demons, less Lifesigns please.
2. B'Elanna Torres: We got a string of good Torres-centric episodes this season (Particularly Prototype and Dreadnought). I was already surprised by how much I like her, and now she's a highlight of the series for me along with the Doctor and Tuvok.
1. Tuvok: Tuvok remains one of the best utilized characters in the show. Russ has had the opportunity to show even more range this time around. Additionally, in the memory alpha annotations, Russ is often quoted as having very insightful comments on what worked and what didn't. I assume that the writers listen to him a fair amount of the time, which is why his character is working so much better than other ones I could name.
No comments:
Post a Comment