Seven Of Nine Ends Up Working For Temporal Investigations In “Relativity!”

The Good: Engaging plot progression, Decent acting, Intriguing villain
The Bad: No character development among the primary characters
The Basics: When Star Trek: Voyager does a time paradox episode, it lifts from obvious sources, but still manages to make it feel fairly fresh with “Relativity.”


At my most cynical, I tend to point out the episodes that the key elements of any episode of Star Trek: Voyager are pulled from. There are few where the aspects are so recognizably lifted as “Relativity,” an episode that combines the essential plot and style elements of “All Good Things . . .” (reviewed here!), “Visionary” (reviewed here!), and “Trials And Tribble-ations” (reviewed here!). Watching “Relativity,” it reminded me most of “Visionary,” but it made me think of something several members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast were quoted frequently as saying as the series went on; they wished they could go back and reshoot the pilot episode without the awkwardness they had while initially filming it. Some of the actors got that chance with “All Good Things” and there are a few scenes in “Relativity” that call that – and the integration of the Star Trek Deep Space Nine characters into the original series footage in “Trials And Tribble-ations – to mind.

But more than being derivative, “Relativity” manages to feel fresh. Despite having obvious markers that tie it to earlier works in the franchise, “Relativity” actually manages to carry the performances and pace in such a way that the viewer does not sit through the episode and feel like they are watching something that familiar. In fact, “Relativity” is a pleasant surprise for Star Trek: Voyager fans and, indeed, science fiction enthusiasts in general.

Prior to the launch of Voyager on its maiden trip, Janeway is touring the ship at the Utopia Planitia shipyards. She is unaware of Seven Of Nine, in a StarFleet science officer uniform, walking around the ship and does not know her when she interacts with her in the briefing room. While Janeway tours her ship, Seven Of Nine reconfigures an EPS relay, which quickly comes to the attention of the engineering crew and Janeway. Seven Of Nine discovers a bomb aboard Voyager that is kept out of phase, but is killed beaming back to the timeship Relativity before she can defuse it.

At a different point in Voyager’s journey home, the bomb actually goes off. Preceded by cases of spacesickness and temporal fractures throughout the ship that have different rooms existing in different timeframes, Voyager is damaged by a temporal weapon. Moments before the bomb explodes, destroying the Federation ship, agents from the timeship Relativity appear on Voyager to abduct Seven Of Nine and take her to the future to recruit her for the time-travel mission. Seven Of Nine is sent back to a Kazon attack that might be when the bomb itself was placed. Seven Of Nine is then set on an adventure through various time frames to stop the bombing and discover who the potential assassin was.

Before I take a lot of flack, I understand time travel, I understand temporal paradoxes. That said, “Relativity” makes no sense. Seven Of Nine discovers the bomb planted before the launch of Voyager, but the bomb is gone when she searches for it during the Kazon attack. While I can certainly buy the invention of a temporal weapon that moves in and out of time, the spatial aspect is utterly implausible in this instance. In other words, if the bomb were planted before Voyager’s launch, it would be on the ship the entire time. If it fell out of temporal synch, Seven Of Nine would have found it during the Kazon attack. That it is not there means that it was not planted at that point (which makes her mission to that timeframe incomprehensible). While the weapon could reasonably unplant itself in time, how it would travel with Voyager after coming unhinged in time makes no sense. Thus, “Relativity” is a mess on the writing front.

The only sensible explanation to “Relativity” comes in the idea that on one of the earlier missions, Seven Of Nine discovered the bomb’s location, after the ship’s launch but before the Kazon attack, and removed it and that the placing of the bomb during the Kazon incident is actually the assassin’s second attempt. That is not supported by the episode itself (in fact, just the opposite – the episode insists the bomb was placed during the Kazon attack and that makes its presence at Utopia Planitia inconceivable) and “Relativity” tries to be clever as opposed to making sense.

When rationality and reason is removed from the equation, though, “Relativity” is actually enjoyable. The acting is quite good, with Jeri Ryan rising to the occasion as Seven Of Nine, though the episode does not develop her character in any meaningful way. She is merely the piece moved along for the plot. Even so, she does fine as the principle performer. She is supported well by Bruce McGill (Captain Braxton) and Jay Karnes. Karnes plays the executive officer on the Relativity and he and Jeri Ryan have decent on-screen chemistry, making one almost wish there were further episodes with him in the role.

I am going to stop there because the more I objectively consider “Relativity,” the worse I think it is. Ironically, this was one of the most enjoyable episodes of this phase of the series!

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

For other works with Dakin Matthews, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Gilmore Girls
Thirteen Days
The Siege

7/10

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.
| | |

The Hirogen Menace Grows When Voyager Becomes “Prey!”

The Good: Interesting plot, Decent acting, Moments of character.
The Bad: Very simple episode on many fronts.
The Basics: When Voyager rescues a Hirogen who is tracking a member of Species 8472, the relationship between hunter and “Prey” is explored!


At this point in the story of Star Trek: Voyager, the show was committed to the Hirogen. Voyager was on the outskirts of, then entered, Hirogen space in “Message In A Bottle” and “Hunters” (reviewed here and here!) and it continued that arc through “Prey.” “Prey” is, appropriately, in some ways the opposite of “Hunters,” which was character-heavy and evolved into a plot-focused piece. “Prey” starts with a very basic plot and evolves into a decent character conflict for the episode.

In fact, “Prey” is set up to quickly dismiss its own plot aspects that seem more ridiculous than true to the show. The teaser starts with a shot of a bioship from Species 8472 before finishing with the revelation and hunting of that creature. In order for any of this to be impressive, the viewer has to know what the creatures from fluidic space are and the ones who know will recognize the ship and be underwhelmed by the climax of the teaser. Followed by a scene that has the Doctor tutoring Seven Of Nine on etiquette that ridiculously asserts that the Doctor learned social graces by repeating banter, “Prey” fortunately recovers to be a much more interesting episode that ultimately pits Janeway against Seven Of Nine in a psychological and philosophical conflict.

Following a Hirogen hunting party that results in the Alpha wounded by a member of Species 8472, Voyager comes to the rescue. After an unnerving exploration of the Hirogen ship, Paris, Tuvok, and Chakotay rescue the Alpha Hirogen and bring him back to Voyager. A member of Species 8472 makes his way to Voyager’s hull at the same time. When the creature enters Voyager, the Alpha Hirogen becomes determined to leave Sickbay and hunt the creature.

Janeway sees the conflict as an opportunity to attempt to make peaceful contact with a member of Species 8472 while the Hirogen is eager to kill it for its hunt. Seven Of Nine wants to eliminate both threats by letting the Hirogen take out the alien invader and when teams are sent out to find the member of Species 8472, the conflict between Janeway and Seven Of Nine reaches a peak.

“Prey” takes time to make explicit what the prior two episodes implied, which is that the Hirogen are hunters. That “Prey” bothers to state that directly is somewhat insulting given that most of the dialogue from Hirogen characters before now refers to “the hunt.” Janeway’s desire to use diplomacy is a reasonable and good character trait that makes perfect sense for her.

The bulk of the character development in “Prey” is the character conflict between Janeway and Seven Of Nine. Janeway is predictably StarFleet in her assertions, like the nanoprobe-modified phaser rifles to shoot nonlethal bursts. Seven Of Nine, similarly, is insistent that Voyager’s crew kill the alien or let the Hirogen kill it. Neither one honestly develops; the episode simply afford the two the chance to express their conflicting opinions with Seven Of Nine, predictably, ending up subservient to the wishes of Janeway. The final scene expresses well the hypocrisy of Janeway’s (and the United States military) view.

“Prey” is also oddly unwilling to work in context for character and also for making itself sensible. There is no mention in this episode of the letters from StarFleet or how the crew is reacting to the destruction of the network that carried those messages. Moreover, the Hirogen do not express anger at Voyager for essentially destroying their communications network. In a similar way, writer Brannon Braga seems to have no good explanation for how Species 8472 penetrated the ship’s shields and writes it off as “what is important is that it is here now.”

The simple plot of “Prey” is fleshed out with time-consuming sequences involving Chakotay, Paris, and Tuvok suiting up and hunting the alien in corridors that have been depressurized. This requires them (and Seven Of Nine) to wear environmental suits and that takes some time to execute. Given the lack of a substantive plot or a conflict that has real meaning for viewers, this feels somewhat like filler.

There are no bad performances in “Prey.” Tony Todd plays this Alpha Hirogen and given how much of his performance is against virtual creatures and has his face and mouth obscured by a mask, he manages to emote well. The final scene that has Jeri Ryan and Kate Mulgrew playing off one another is well-executed and Ryan is characteristically cold and controlled as Seven Of Nine. Mulgrew is appropriately authoritative as Janeway in the last scene as well.

The special effects in “Prey” are decent, though the lighting on the representative of Species 8472 are still not quite right. The moralistic elements of “Prey” are enough to remind viewers just how pleasantly different the Star Trek franchise was. In fact, the only truly unenlightened aspect of “Prey” is that the crew seems content to call the alien by its Borg designation. One wishes that while Tuvok was in contact with the alien he might have come up with a more appropriate name for the species than 8472. This is conceptually offensive, like calling a person by their Medical File number instead of humanizing them after an assault.

Even so, “Prey” works well to create a conflict above and beyond its exceptionally simple and obvious plot.

[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!]

7/10

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.
| | |

The Annual “Torment O’Brien” Episode For Season Six Is "Honor Among Thieves"

The Good: Engaging performances, Decent character development, Nice mood
The Bad: Predictable plot
The Basics: O’Brien infiltrates the Orion Syndicate and befriends the man he must betray in “Honor Among Thieves.”


In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there were a few annual events that viewers had to look forward to. Chief among them was the episode each year where Chief O’Brien gets tormented in some way. O’Brien is pretty much the whipping boy of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, having been beaten up, put on trial and imprisoned more than most of the other characters. The “torment O’Brien” episodes are some of the most memorable of the series, like “Tribunal” (reviewed here!) and “Hard Time” (reviewed here!). In the sixth season, the annual episode that brutalizes O’Brien is a bit more mundane and less extraordinary. That episode is “Honor Among Thieves” and it gives O’Brien plenty to do, without really shaking the character up.

“Honor Among Thieves” is one of the few dangling threads in the overall Dominion War arc. While elements of the episode are called back to later on, the relationship between the Dominion and Orion Syndicate is not explored again, which is something of a surprise given the level of import it has in this episode. Fortunately for O’Brien, “Honor Among Thieves” is more an uncomfortable situation for O’Brien as opposed to an episode where he is truly psychologically destroyed or messed with. Following the tour d’force of “Hard Time,” it is refreshing that O’Brien is not really put in extreme mental peril.

In a seedy bar on a distant planet, a criminal tries to use a device to connect to a computer that interfaces directly with his brain. When it begins to electrocute him, a human – O’Brien – steps in and helps him. This allows O’Brien to meet Bilby, a member of the Orion Syndicate. Much to the pleasure of O’Brien’s handler, Chadwick, O’Brien infiltrates Bilby’s operation within the Syndicate. His mission is to discover who in the Orion Syndicate has their claws in someone in StarFleet and who the identity of the StarFleet informant is.

As O’Brien’s mission progresses, with O’Brien gaining Bilby’s confidence by fixing things like Klingon disruptors for him, it becomes more complicated. O’Brien starts to find things about Bilby that he actually likes and when Bilby’s boss, Raimus, brings a Vorta to a meeting, the connection between the Orion Syndicate and the Dominion is exposed. While Chadwick works to extract O’Brien and learn the identity of the StarFleet mole, O’Brien struggles to keep himself and Bilby alive.

“Honor Among Thieves” suffers most from being a pretty formulaic undercover story. Director Allan Eastman and the episode’s writers do not stray at all from the unexpected. Eastman films the episode in dark, low lights so the whole thing feels murky and dismal (more than virtually any other episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), the line-up scene obviously does not leave O’Brien dead, and Bilby is humanized almost immediately when he and O’Brien speak in private. Even the casting for the episode is unimaginative. Michael Harney, who plays Chadwick, is playing a character virtually identical to the role he had on NYPD Blue. In fact, the only real surprise of the episode is that Chadwick is not the StarFleet mole.

Even so, “Honor Among Thieves” is worthwhile in that it fleshes out the universe of Star Trek that much more. Far too often seen as clean and bright, “Honor Among Thieves” explores one of the darker corners of the galaxy and that helps make the entire universe seem a bit more realistic.

The acting in “Honor Among Thieves” is decent and the characters are a little more rounded than in most episodes with guest starring groups. Nick Tate plays Bilby well and he manages to make his refrain of “family is the most important thing” not sound trite or droll when he repeats it. Tate is able to convey both the menace and the humor of Bilby’s character, which can be a real balancing act at times. He pulls it off well, for example, when he confronts O’Brien on the cake that his wife made and he is sharing with O’Brien. Tate has a subtle vibrancy that works well for the character.

Colm Meany uses “Honor Among Thieves” to help O’Brien seem a bit more sophisticated than usual. I write that without irony; O’Brien is one of the least-creative characters in the Star Trek franchise. While his engineering abilities force him to do the most complicated work, his solution to many problems is to beat on a panel to get it working, as opposed to imagining a completely different way to use a system or function. In “Honor Among Thieves,” O’Brien must think on his feet and Colm Meany sells the viewer on the idea that it is O’Brien and not a script that is dictating the character’s responses. When O’Brien opens his mouth and pauses, the viewer can see the wheels turning in his mind and Meany’s performance is nuanced enough to do that.

“Honor Among Thieves” is a pretty straightforward episode that tightly focuses on O’Brien. In fact, it feels forced when a scene pops up where most of the senior staff is complaining to Kira about how everything aboard the station is breaking down. That said, it is not an unsatisfying episode and fans are likely to enjoy seeing O’Brien in a challenging situation where he is not simply getting his ass kicked.

[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!]

7/10

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

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