| The characters in Fair Haven (see: Fair Haven) are starting to become aware of the control the Voyager crew exerts over their program. When Kim and Paris go in to attempt to fix things from within the program, they are taken hostage by the superstitious townsfolk, and even the Doctor cannot save them. Janeway's boyfriend takes the mobile emitter, and is beamed to the bridge, where Janeway explains the situation. Tom and Harry are released, and the program is no longer kept running, as that is what caused the problems in the first place. |
Remember when I praised Fair Haven for at least not being a holodeck malfunction story? Well, in this sequel to that bad episode, the writers made sure to fix that thing that kept it (barely) afloat. The problem here though is not just that it is a holodeck malfunction story, it is that it is an unimaginative, uninteresting story that builds on another dull story using elements that don't fit into the Trek continuity. I guess the closest parallel here is Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang, another episode with something going wrong in a long-running holodeck program. But the problem there wasn't a malfunction - there was no problem with it running so long - it was a built-in element placed there to keep the program interesting. And you know what? It did. While it was a by-the-numbers recreation of your average heist movie, the comedy was good, the action was good, and the characters were involved and engaged.
Before the malfunction was introduced, and I was hoping desperately that something else was going on, the episode seemed like it was just flying in the face of known holodeck mechanics. Even in Fair Haven, people reprogrammed the holodeck in front of the characters without being noticed, that's just how generic holodeck characters work. Why would they work differently here? It's like we're following the writer's thought process, as they were coming up with the story. Someone must've raised the point, when they were deep into the writing process, that this sort of thing isn't consistent with how holodecks work - so they hastily added the malfunction to cover it. And don't get me started on a holodeck gun shooting the holodeck control panel. And I'm still annoyed that Voyager keeps putting control panels behind paneling on the sets! Holodecks are supposed to use false perspective and treadmill effects to keep the people in them from reaching the edges - which is also why throwing a real object will hit a wall. But why then would there be control panels in specific spots in the wall? Blargh!
Now, continuity has never been Voyager's strong suit, so to see it wasted on a pair of episodes like this is a real shame. And you know what? I don't even really need continuity from Voyager, I just need consistency. All I want is for Seven to act a little more normal after she's learned some sort of humanity lesson, or for Torres to exhibit a little more emotional control if last time she learned to temper her temper, or if they're going to bring back replicator rations (which they seem to have done this season), then maybe they shouldn't have a holodeck program running non-stop.
But it gets worse. Consistency is actually the villain of this episode. Consistency is the thing that caused the holograms to malfunction. This feels like the writers are comparing dedicated viewers, ones who have watched every episode and just want some growth to matter, to the fanatical, superstitious, simple townsfolk who don't know what's best for them. Add to that the meta-problem of this terrible episode being a rare example of continuity itself, and you have the writers essentially flipping the bird at their most dedicated fans. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, maybe it is just a bad episode, but I do take it a bit personally.
Watchability: 1/5
Bottom Line: This is the lowest-rated episode in the entire series on the GEOS poll, and it is not hard to see why. Sacred Ground will always be the worst for me, but this is definitely more of an equal-opportunity offender.
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