Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Season 4 Evaluation
3.3 is the highest average score since the first season, whose ratings may have been slightly inflated due to the rock-bottom expectations that I went into this project with. This is certainly a much more polished season, with a much more... stable viewing experience. I'm comfortable saying that this has been my favorite season yet, which is good because season 3 severely tried my patience with its terrible science and forgettable plots.
I noted this in the Mortal Coil review, but the science has improved a great deal in this season, and the technobabble's importance has diminished. Nebula imagery is created with real nebula textures, and often science words are actually used to mean what they do in the real world. And I don't mind technobabble per se; I enjoy a well-constructed and researched babbling, what gets to me is when the meaningless babble is used to actually solve the problem of the episode. As much as Star Trek is often skewered for solving the dilemma of the episode with technobabble, the writers actually don't do it that often. Usually it is just something in the background, while the characters grapple with some other dilemma; or the process by which they come to the tech solution is the character growth they needed. Season 3, though, was rife with babble solutions, and I think season 4 did well to back away from that.
While this season brought back recurring antagonists (after the Kazon and Vidiians left at the end of season 2, season 3 was all alien-a-week), the best episodes were all one-offs. Year of Hell, Part I, Mortal Coil, Living Witness, and One were all completely stand-alone episodes. I think that's what Voyager does best, and I'm happy to let them do it, but there's still plenty of room for more characterization continuity. If there's one thing that I'd like to see the writers fix going forward, it is their tendency to back-track a character's progress just so that they can make them grow more in the episode they're writing. Season 3 was worse for that, but season 4 still got mired in that problem, particularly with Seven.
Then there's the Janeway/Seven problem. If you took out all the preachy scenes between those two, I think you'd see a sizeable increase in the average score for this season. It is clear that they're going for a Data/Picard dynamic for them, but it just isn't working. Picard was a good mentor for Data, because Data actually wanted a mentor. Picard's advice was sought. And Picard did a good job of not speaking in absolutes. He was happy to give Data guidance, but wasn't one to force the answers on him. He'd get a bit frustrated if Data came to a different conclusion than he did, but you could see that, though Data viewed Picard as his superior, Picard had the utmost respect and admiration for Data - which is something that was lost in several of the TNG movies.
Picard is accused of preaching a lot - and, well, he does from time to time. What Picard does more though is he engages in a dialogue. He'll guide you where he he thinks you should go with stirring rhetoric, but he doesn't start out at the answer. That's where he succeeds and Janeway fails. Janeway launches at you with her answer, dismisses you condescendingly if you disagree, and then is always "proved right" by the writers. Seven's not like Data, she doesn't want a mentor, she wants a reference book. That's why she works so much better with Tuvok. He can tell her about humanity without cramming smarm about it being superior down her throat. I think Seven would be much happier with Picard, though Data would be perfectly content with Janeway.
Watchability: 4/5
Bottom Line: Skip the Janeway/Seven scenes/episodes, and you've got yourself a reasonably solid season of Trek, possibly one you've never even seen before. It's still no TNG season 3, 4, or 5, but if you liked season 7, you'll probably be able to enjoy this one.
Character Status:
I'm going to put this list in ascending order this time, from worst to best. Bear with me.
9. Kathryn Janeway: What to say that I haven't said already? Oh, this: you may recall, back in my Year of Hell, Part I review, when I opined that I liked the angry Janeway better. I still do. While she's still condescending, at least she's decisive. And when she's decisive, she spends less time preaching. Unfortunately, angry Janeway hasn't surfaced much since then, so she's still stuck in this least desirable of spots on this list. If there has been one change, it is that you can't do the "imagine Picard saying her lines" thing (and I haven't really been able to do that for over two seasons now); while that opens her up to the criticism I shared earlier in this evaluation, at least she is becoming more of her own character. I still don't like her.
8. Tom Paris: I don't have much to add to my Vis à Vis review. The short of it is: we're probably not getting any real background on him because the writers want to distance him from his TNG character without actually distancing him from his TNG character. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Also, he's been more petulant and petty in his relationship with Torres this season, which is enough to bump him up to the #8 slot.
7. Chakotay: Well, there's still not much to him. Any time that they need a pacifist, they turn to Chakotay. I try to forget that he was a terrorist captain, because the writers clearly have forgotten, but it's hard. He just doesn't have much else to do than spout native american stereotypes.
6. B'Elanna Torres: My esteem for her been steadily dropping since her peak in season 2; part of it is that her actress was pregnant this season, so they hardly used her. But it also feels like the writers just said "Whelp, her character arc is done, let's move on!" It's like Babylon 5, season 5, when JMS wrapped up the important character arcs and then got another season. So, instead of adapting, he just pushed the characters we cared about into the background to make way for new characters we didn't care about.
5. Seven of Nine: Except I kind of do care about Seven. Sure, she's not Kes. I miss Kes. And Seven's interactions with Janeway have been the bane of this season. And her outfits... it still boggles my mind that a crew that can think that having gay people on the show isn't appropriate, but having her in those catsuits is family-friendly. Seriously. But she's not a bad actress, and her outlook as a former Borg leads to some interesting insights, particularly when contrasted with The Doctor's or Tuvok's outsider perspectives. My favorite moments from her have been the times when she speaks as though the Borg are still her people - for example, taunting the Hirogen in The Killing Game, Part II. Seven's Borg hubris is fun and compelling except when Janeway uses it as a preaching point.
4. Harry Kim: While his awkward scenes with Seven this season have been excruciating, I'm still relatively happy with Kim. He's a punching bag, for sure, but he's a lovable punching bag. The Paris and Kim friendship seemed to be resurfacing in Demon, so maybe if that continues in season 5 he can help pull Paris back down this list.
3. Neelix: Wait, what? How is this... Neelix?? Third best character of the season?! Yeah, you heard me. His maturity level has skyrocketed, and now he's pretty much exactly the character that I had wished he were in the first three seasons. I guess his cooking still sucks, since everyone is always commenting on it, but his resilience makes him that much more endearing. He was even the center of attention for the second-best episode of the season. Neelix, I'm proud of you *sniff*.
2. Tuvok: Tuvok is still a rock upon which this show is anchored. If I'd ordered this list for other seasons, he'd be towards the bottom for them too. Tim Russ still has it, and even directed the best episode of the series so far. Even though Tuvok was not used as much as he could have been this season, he is always a delight to have on screen.
1. The Doctor: This entry is perhaps a bit less surprising. His delivery is still perfect, but the use of his character in Doctor-centric episodes has vastly improved. Gone are the days of the awkward telling-it-like-it-isn't of Lifesigns or Real Life; make way for Revulsion, Message in a Bottle, and, of course, Living Witness. Rock on, dear Doctor.
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