Seven Of Nine Has A Spiritual Experience When Voyager Initiates “The Omega Directive!”

The Good: Interesting concept, Moments of character
The Bad: Raises some serious continuity issues, Chakotay’s reactions to Harry Kim.
The Basics: In a fair episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Janeway and Seven Of Nine set out to investigate a forbidden particle that puts Voyager in a lockdown.


For a show that bore so many similarities to Star Trek: The Next Generation, I am always amazed at continuity errors or pitfalls in Star Trek: Voyager. After all, if you are going to make something thoroughly derivative, the least you can do is know your source material. As it stands, one of the more original episodes of Star Trek: Voyager is “The Omega Directive.” Unfortunately, it raises an issue of continuity that makes the season premiere (and thus, Seven Of Nine’s presence on Voyager) even less plausible than before.

Seven Of Nine is going about her day, preparing to work with Ensign Kim when the ship goes into a lockdown of sorts. Janeway arrives on the bridge, where consoles are locked out with an Omega symbol on the monitors and she promptly goes into seclusion. She soon enlists Seven Of Nine as she initiates what is called the Omega Directive. Seven Of Nine, being Borg and having assimilated StarFleet captains who knew of the directive can be trusted by Janeway as she already knows the forbidden directive. Voyager’s sensors, it turns out, have detected a theoretical particle of immense power, known as Omega Particles. StarFleet has a standing order to destroy any such particles when they come into contact with them so the power may not be harnessed by enemies or, because the particles are so volatile and unstable, rupture subspace to make warp fields impossible to create.

The Omega Directive puts Janeway and Seven Of Nine at odds once again. While Janeway sets out to destroy the Omega molecule, Seven Of Nine becomes determined to harness and study it. The Borg, over the past two hundred plus years, have sought the Omega molecule as an embodiment of perfection. Janeway also is soon at odds with Chakotay, who implores the captain not to take the responsibility on herself, despite StarFleet orders. Convinced by Chakotay, who is also influenced by Seven Of Nine, the ship journeys to a planet where massive amounts of the unstable element are being harnessed!

The fundamental problem with “The Omega Directive” is actually a continuity issue within Star Trek: Voyager. In defining the Borg pursuit of the Omega molecule, Seven Of Nine reveals that the Borg sacrificed 29 ships and 600,000 drones to stabilize their sample of the Omega molecule for a trillionth of a nanosecond. That glimpse into perfection guides Seven Of Nine throughout the episode. Given how massive a loss the Borg had for an experiment lasting only a trillionth of a nanosecond, the losses suffered in “Scorpion, Part 2” (reviewed here!) at the hands of the invaders from fluidic space is negligible. In context, what this means is that if the Borg could afford the losses for Omega two hundred years prior (before they had assimilated thousands more species and had nanotechnology to make faster assimilations), then the loss of ships and planets at the hands of Species 8472 are hardly as imperiling as the Borg led Janeway to believe in that episode.

The only other real problem with “The Omega Directive” is how Chakotay relates to Harry Kim in the episode. Kim is upset that Seven Of Nine is giving orders and assigning crew Borg-style numbers. Chakotay blows off his concerns and that is hardly a reasonable course of action.

That said, “The Omega Directive” is surprisingly good. Writer Lisa Klink does a decent job of fostering the relationship between Harry Kim and Tuvok that was begun in “Alter Ego” (reviewed here!) and that is a nice touch. Also nice is the reference to Carol Marcus and the Genesis Device from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (reviewed here!).

Also decent is the interplay between Chakotay and Janeway. Chakotay is reasonable and emotionally balanced in “The Omega Directive” and despite his character being in decline, the scene works very well. As well, Chakotay’s relationship with Seven Of Nine in this episode might well be the only foreshadowing in the entire series to the arc between the two that caps off the series!

Seven Of Nine’s spiritual quest is an intriguing reflection of Janeway’s duty-bound determination and it plays out through the episode well.

While the plot and character elements of “The Omega Directive” are ultimately decent, there are no incredible performances in the episode. All of the actors show up, do their part and none leave the viewer wowed in any fashion. There are no bad performances, either, but when “adequate” is what one gets, the viewer is left wishing for more. In the end, “The Omega Directive” is a simple bottle episode that is interesting, but in no way extraordinary.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the gamechanging middle season here!
Thanks!]

7.5/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Retaking Voyager Is The Focus Of “The Killing Game, Part 2”

The Good: Performances
The Bad: Light on character, Plot is very basic
The Basics: “The Killing Game, Part 2” finds the StarFleet officers and Hirogen doing battle to retake Voyager.


When Star Trek Voyager left off at the climax of “The Killing Game” (reviewed here!), most of the crew was still under the influence of the Hirogen and the ship was in enemy hands. I have defined “The Killing Game” as the second part of a three-parter that we never see the first part of. “The Killing Game, Part 2” is the final portion of that story. Truth be told, the producers of Star Trek: Voyager may have had the right idea by producing “The Killing Game, Part 2” without showing how Voyager was lost to the Hirogen. Viewers probably had an easier time accepting Voyager had been lost without seeing it than they would have had if they had seen Voyager lost without seeing how they retook the ship.

The problem with “The Killing Game, Part 2” is that it is a painfully straightforward, obvious, episode that is utterly lacking in real character development. Given that most of the characters are not actually who they think they are for the episode, “The Killing Game, Part 2” is a novelty episode that does not hold up as well under real scrutiny. The major character development comes from various Hirogen turning on their Alpha.

With a large portion of the Holodeck blown out across a few decks, the Voyager crewmembers still trapped by the Hirogen inside the Holodeck simulation of World War II see the inside of the starship and interpret it as a Nazi bunker. With Janeway mentally freed by Seven Of Nine, they team up to fight the Hirogen inside the holodeck simulation while Harry Kim struggles to stay alive outside Holodeck as the Hirogen begin hunting Seven Of Nine and Janeway. With the Doctor deactivated by the Hirogen medic, Janeway’s allies run thin.

As the holodeck simulation collapses, Janeway and her people (most of them unwittingly) fight to retake Voyager.

“The Killing Game, Part 2” continues to play off the novelty of most of the actors playing almost entirely new characters. Chakotay is an American captain, Neelix is trapped believing he is a Klingon, Torres is convinced she is a pregnant French peasant woman. None of these characters is truly well-rounded. Instead, they are novelties and essentially acting exercises for the main cast. There are not even moments of fun with the performances – though the acting is convincing enough – as the characters were all established in the prior episode. The “surprise” of the alterations of each actor’s character has worn off and here, the actors just push through as the thinly-created characters they presented in the prior episode.

So, for example, Ethan Philips playing Neelix as a Klingon is a cute idea and seeing more of him in that role in this episode is fine, but not terribly interesting.

Fraught with simplicity – this is a very obvious “retake the ship” episode - “The Killing Game, Part 2” is problematically inconsistent. The Hirogen are supposed to be the new badasses of the Delta Quadrant. And yet, the moment Harry Kim’s duplicity is exposed, the Hirogen . . . keep him alive. They aren’t exactly incredible as a new culture.

So, that leaves the stated views of the Alpha Hirogen. The Alpha Hirogen simply wants to preserve his culture and grow beyond the simple bloodsport. “The Killing Game, Part 2” tries to be menacing at points, but ultimately feels silly. When Seven Of Nine stands up to the Hirogen and refuses to sing, the viewer has to suspend their disbelief to an unrealistic extent to believe that she might actually be killed in this particular conflict.

So it is, the death knell of “The Killing Game, Part 2” is its simplicity. This is a basic episode without real larger themes, goals, or character elements.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the gamechanging middle season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Danny Goldring, please visit my reviews of:
The Dark Knight
“. . . Nor Battle To The Strong” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Civil Defense” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Dr. Strangechild” - VR.5

3/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Ezri Tries To Return Home In A Fairly Mundane Mystery: “Prodigal Daughter”

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting character issues
The Bad: Pretty mundane plot
The Basics: In “Prodigal Daughter,” viewers learn more about Ezri Dax and the lengths O’Brien would go to for his friends.


Nicole de boer takes some flack for her presence in the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and I think that is, largely, unfair of people. After all, it’s a tough job to join a seasoned cast for its final season, as de Boer had to. Part of the reason I think de Boer takes a disproportional amount of blame for her presence in the seventh season is that too often, the producers and writers seemed unsure of how to use and develop her character. “Prodigal Daughter” is an example of that.

“Prodigal Daughter” is an unfortunately mundane episode that presents Ezri Dax in the middle of a murder mystery that takes a ridiculous amount of time to establish itself as that. In fact, by the time there is the traditional scene in the mystery where a detective asks the initial questions that establish the potential suspects’ whereabouts at the time of the crime, the episode is over. As an interesting twist, “Prodigal Daughter” pairs Ezri and O’Brien and it is only then that the viewer is likely to realize that O’Brien and Jadzia shared very few scenes exclusively with one another.

In “Prodigal Daughter,” a distracted Dr. Bashir is forced to reveal to Captain Sisko that O’Brien has gone AWOL and lost while attempting to locate Liam Bilby’s widow. As it turns out, Ezri’s family is a prominent business family in the area of New Sydney where O’Brien went missing. Ezri’s mother uses O’Brien’s loss to lure her daughter back home and there, Ezri quickly gets caught up in her family’s familiar drama. Her overbearing mother keeps Ezri’s two brothers on a short leash. Norvo, Ezri’s artistic younger brother, is an artist who Ezri thinks is being smothering by Yanas, while her older brother, Janel, runs much of Yanas’s mining operation.

When O’Brien resurfaces, battered by the Orion Syndicate, he has learned that Marika (Bilby’s widow) is dead and he has the Syndicate’s activities traced to New Sydney. O’Brien is put to work by Yanas fixing a mining tool and comes to believe that the Teagan family (Ezri’s family) is involved in the Orion Syndicate. The longer Ezri digs into the murder of Marika Bilby, the more connections she finds with her own family’s business and soon it becomes clear that her estranged family is made up of very different people than she remembered.

Ezri is still in the process of being established in “Prodigal Daughter.” Until this point, we mostly know that Ezri is a nervous counselor who was not prepared to be a joined Trill. She gets spacesick from motion sickness and has become very confused by the voices of the past hosts within the Symbiont’s memories. In “Prodigal Daughter,” we learn that she is essentially estranged from her mother and two brothers. Ezri is protective of her brother Norvo and has almost no relationship with her other brother. The complex relationship between Ezri and her mother is not bad, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has done it before, with Dr. Bashir. And, at least, the show is smart enough to acknowledge the similarities.

“Prodigal Daughter” is not bad, per se, but it is a pretty bland episode. The show is remarkably uncomplicated. What is refreshing about it is that it makes “Honor Among Thieves” (reviewed here!) have a real purpose. That episode is one of the odd dangling random episodes in the series and while Bilby’s cat pops back up, it is not until “Prodigal Daughter” that the episode has a chance to make a real statement about O’Brien that truly endures.

The O’Brien character arc in “Prodigal Daughter” is one that is more inferred than made explicit. O’Brien, reluctantly part of an undercover investigation, developed an affection for his mark. It is a real easy thing to dismiss that and let it fall by the wayside. The writers, however, give it a real decent shot by having O’Brien following Bilby’s family so doggedly in “Prodigal Daughter.” It’s an interesting character arc for him and the only real problem with his part in this episode is that he does not address how Keiko must be doing in his absence.

That said, while the O’Brien arc is interesting, the episode truly is an Ezri episode. “Prodigal Daughter” gives Nicole de Boer the chance to shine and that is through her playing the character with less of a sense of confusion. Babbling less, de Boer is able to slowly recharacterize Ezri as someone who is plausibly a counselor and actually interesting. She makes it work in “Prodigal Daughter” and de Boer and Colm Meany play off one another surprisingly well.

Even so, it’s not a superlative episode . . . in pretty much any way. “Prodigal Daughter” is good, but not terribly exciting. It is, however, at least worth watching.

[Knowing that the season is a much better investment, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Seventh Season on DVD, which provides the full story for the conclusion to the series. Read my review of the final season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Captain Sisko Changes The Course Of The Dominion War "In The Pale Moonlight"

The Good: Interesting character study, Good plot progression, Great acting
The Bad: Narrative technique is a little obvious.
The Basics: In one of the best, game-changing, episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Captain Sisko works to get the Romulans into the Dominion War.


Everyone I know seems to like “In The Pale Moonlight” better than I do. I like the episode, but virtually everyone else I know puts it in their Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It does not quite make it there for me. In part, this is because the very first time I saw the episode, I called the last shot/line and I felt a little cheated. Despite the narrative technique, this is a remarkably straightforward episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While it is good, it is not the most replayable episode of the series and not the most compelling story in the franchise.

What “In The Pale Moonlight” does, however, is once and for all present Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the story of the death of Gene Roddenberry’s dream. With the Dominion War going horribly for the Federation and Klingons, Captain Benjamin Sisko abandons his principles for what he believes to be the greater good (survival of the Alpha Quadrant, not under Dominion rule). That type of decision was one Roddenberry studiously avoided and the fact that he never produced a show where the stakes were raised to high to illustrate how he would have had the heroes escape their fate is an unfortunate one. As it is, writers Peter Allan Fields and Michael Taylor do a fine job at showing how far humans will go to survive and “In The Pale Moonlight” holds up for the realism of that. I, like many Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans, find it engaging to have a cold, hard reality trounce the idealistic world.

Another week of casualty reports comes in an when Captain Sisko posts it, he becomes frustrated seeing how his crew is affected. At that moment, Sisko determines that he must change the course of the war and he knows that the best way to do that is to find a way to bring the Romulans into the war. After a talk with Dax that convinces him that the Romulans will only end their Non-Aggression Pact with the Dominion if it is in their own self interest, Sisko turns to Garak to try to produce evidence that the Dominion is planning to betray the Romulans.

Sisko helps to spring Tolar, a hologram forgery artist, from a Klingon prison and he and Garak get to work on creating a program that will convince Senator Vreenak of Romulus that the Dominion is secretly planning to turn on the Romulan Empire. When Tolar stabs Quark, Sisko begins to have serious misgivings about the entire enterprise. But the Dominion invades Betazed and with the fall of Betazed and the heart of the Federation exposed, Sisko sees no other alternatives, but completing the attempt to bring the Romulans into the war on the side of the Federation and Klingons.

“In The Pale Moonlight” has a lot going for it and all other factors aside, it is solidly entertaining. The episode illustrates, as Sisko notes within the episode, how good intentions and a noble cause may be achieved through the most ignoble means. Sisko wants to save lives and his character is central to “In The Pale Moonlight.” His personal sense of responsibility weighs upon him and that is largely what motivates him in “In The Pale Moonlight.” In fact, that sense of responsibility is largely what makes the episode work. At the climax of the episode, Sisko does not relax or celebrate. Instead, he moves on to the next task involved with trying to win the war and that speaks to his devotion.

The odd pairing of Sisko and Garak in “In The Pale Moonlight” works exceptionally well. Sisko is straight-laced and Garak is his usual obfuscating self. The much-alluded to relationship between Garak and Romulus actually plays into the episode in an interesting way and Garak once again establishes that while he is willing to serve the Federation, he is not at all a good guy. “In The Pale Moonlight” cashes in all of Garak’s favors and given how his backstory is littered with dead bodies and (presumably) favors that can be cashed in, that Garak gives up so much to try to bring the Romulans into the war is extraordinary.

As always, Andrew Robinson is impressive as Garak. Robinson emotes well, especially when he tells Sisko of how the Dominion killed most of his friends who were working on getting the optolithic data rod. He also manages to make Garak sound perfectly reasonable at the climax of the episode where he tells Sisko the score. “In The Pale Moonlight” might be Sisko’s bold attempt to save the galaxy, but it is also Garak’s chance to do some serious housecleaning and developing the episode so that Garak has something entirely different going on from Sisko’s motives is very cool. Robinson sells the individualist nature of Garak, making him seem entirely vital on his own.

Avery Brooks plays Sisko well in “In The Pale Moonlight,” though truth be told his performance is nothing viewers have not seen from him before. In fact, from the moment Stephen McHattie arrives as Vreenak, McHattie overshadows Brooks. McHattie does cool irony exceptionally well and as Vreenak, he is cold, cool and strangely reasonable.

While there is more that could be said about “In The Pale Moonlight,” it would be hard to do without massive spoilers. “In The Pale Moonlight” is one of the episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that is easier to enjoy and wrap your mind around after the fact, than going in knowing what it is all about. It is worth seeing and is part of the essential Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Sixth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the penultimate season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Stephen McHattie, be sure to visit my reviews of:
2012
Watchmen: Under The Hood
Watchmen
300
The Fountain
A History Of Violence
The X-Files - "Nesei" / "731"

9/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please check out my Star Trek Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the episodes and films I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sisko Gets His Moment Of Vengeance "For The Uniform"

The Good: Continuity, Character, Acting
The Bad: Moments are "over the top" and counter-Star Trek
The Basics: When Sisko has the chance to exact his revenge on the traitor Michael Eddington and the Maquis, he takes it.


When Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington betrayed Captain Sisko to the Maquis near the end of the fourth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, most viewers were caught off-guard and pleasantly surprised. The vast majority had the feeling that it was only the beginning of something else. In the fifth season of the series, "For The Uniform" picks that intriguing arc up when Sisko decides to hunt Eddington down.

Plagued by minor skirmishes from the Maquis that threaten the lasting peace with Cardassia, Captain Sisko has been hunting the traitor Eddington down. He finds his former officer on a planet in the demilitarized zone, but is unable to apprehend him. Instead, Sisko ends up trying to locate Eddington - who taunts him via a new holographic interface on the Defiant's bridge - when Eddington damages another Federation ship. Sisko's tactic is brutal; sensing Eddington still has a sense of loyalty to his people, Sisko begins to squeeze the Maquis until they can no longer afford to keep Eddington as their leader.

What works in "For the Uniform" is that it is a classic tale of obsession but in this case, it is one of our heroic characters who is becoming obsessed. Fortunately, this branch of the Star Trek franchise forgoes the obvious Moby Dick parallel and uses Les Miserables as a point of reference instead. The writers here have a broader sense of culture that is refreshing and fits the adult audience of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

What many of the adults in that audience, especially those who were fans of Star Trek back in the day, might find troubling is the length Sisko goes to out of personal vengeance. Eddington gives Sisko several outs, chances to simply walk away and he does not taunt Sisko like the supposed hero does to the fugitive. Sisko does such things as destroy a planet's atmosphere to flush Eddington out and threatens even more.

Personally, I find the severe differences between Captain Sisko and other StarFleet captains to be refreshing. Sisko's need for revenge is very realistic to modern audiences and more than any other Star Trek captain it makes sense and befits his character. Unlike Jean-Luc Picard who is essentially a philosopher king, Sisko makes no such claim and his notions of duty and honor and responsibility make "For the Uniform" make sense.

If anything, "For The Uniform" takes Captain Sisko and pushes the boundaries of where he can be. Sisko is an obsessive man. He is a person who will work to protect the Federation through a sense of obligation and strength that is more scrappy than other Trek captains. Sisko will fight for the Federation using force and pretty much any resource possible. He is an obsessive man and "For The Uniform" goes a long way to effectively illustrating that.

This episode holds up among one of the best of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because of the acting. Despite the traumatic things Captain Sisko does that might freak out Star Trek loyalists, Avery Brooks does a great job of playing Sisko as obsessive and determined, but not completely over the top. Brooks uses his voice and facial expressions to the greatest extent an actor may.

But the episode endures because of Kenneth Marshall who plays Michael Eddington. Marshall does an excellent job of making Eddington seem reasonable and calm. He carries his body as the holographic Eddington with an expertise that perfectly creates the illusion that Marshall is not actually standing on the same set as Brooks. Marshall also works with an economy of body language that contrasts Brooks' hot tempered movements quite well.

"For The Uniform" is part of the essential Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because it progresses the Sisko character arc and almost completely ends the Eddington plot. It is less accessible to those who are not fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because it relies on events that took place in other episodes. Despite dealing with the universal issues surrounding obsession and quests for vengeance, "For The Uniform" is somewhat insular to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine universe. So, the question you have to ask is: why haven't you gotten into this universe by now?

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Fifth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the perfect season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

7/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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