Lessons On Klingons Start In “Sleeping Dogs”

The Good: Generally good performances
The Bad: No real character development, Mediocre plot, Stupid continuity issues within the episode, Robs the viewer of the joy of discovery
The Basics: “Sleeping Dogs” provides Enterprise fans with a more well-rounded view of the Klingons.


The Klingons are a fan favorite of those who love the Star Trek franchise. It is, therefore, natural that Enterprise would seek to do the occasional Klingon episode and “Sleeping Dogs” is the first big Klingon episode of the series. It is odd to me, then, that the writers who would seek to use the Klingons would not present them in a terribly robust way. In fact, “Sleeping Dogs” might be one of the lamest possible ways to introduce the Klingons to new fans of the series.

The disappointment fans of the Star Trek franchise are bound to feel is the result of how the Klingons are not explored, but rather told about. T’Pol has, apparently, collected a ridiculous amount of information on the Klingons (yet does not remember the class of vessel from the Vulcan notes on Klingons) and she presents that information as exposition. In other words, in “Sleeping Dogs,” viewers do not see Klingons presenting their culture or beliefs, most of the episode simply has T’Pol and Archer telling viewers about what Klingons think and believe. As far as continuity goes, much of the episode seems like it would be a hugely roundabout way to introduce the Klingon neurotoxin used as a cure in “The Tholian Web” (reviewed here!). The episode does not quite commit to that, though.

While Lieutenant Reed wrestles with a head cold and helping Hoshi Sato with her target practice, the Enterprise encounters a Class 9 gas giant (which is distinctly different from the four gas giants in the Sol system). In studying the gas giant, the Enterprise finds a derelict ship recognizable to everyone but the crew as a Klingon ship. After Sato volunteers to join the Away Team, she, Reed, and T’Pol take the Shuttlepod to the adrift ship and discover it is Klingon. There, they encounter Bu’kaH, the only member of the Klingon crew not incapacitated by a neurotoxin that knocked out most of the crew.

When Bu’kaH steals the shuttlepod, Enterprise recovers it and Archer begins to try to understand the Klingons. Phlox cures the Klingon woman while Reed, T’Pol, and Sato work to get the Klingon ship online before it is crushed by the pressures of the gas giant.

“Sleeping Dogs” once again illustrates a lack of sensibility for people who are supposed to be early explorers. In addition to exposing themselves to an environment that contains a neurotoxin, the StarFleet officers (and T’Pol) witlessly remain stripped down during their attempt to explode their way out of the atmosphere. It seems like common sense that if one is on a ship where hull breaches are imminent and one is blowing up missiles in order to create a shockwave that might blow another hole in the ship, one would at least put their environmental suit on so that if there was an atmospheric decompression (that the structural integrity survived) they would be able to breathe.

To make the episode work, the Away Team witlessly does not include Trip Tucker, the chief engineer. While the episode acknowledges that they should have brought him along, it does not provide a reason why he was left behind. In fact, T’Pol is far less necessary to the Away Team than Trip would have been, making his absence feel all the more forced for plot.

In addition to being exposition-heavy and having character elements that quickly negate original characterization – Sato is no longer fearful of everything in the galaxy, which is pretty fast for a woman who was expressly not an explorer five months prior – “Sleeping Dogs” is simply not very exciting and affords no opportunities for great performances. Dominic Keating, Linda Park, and even Jolene Blalock give adequate performances that present their characters well-enough, but not in any remarkable way. Scott Bakula is still fairly stiff as Jonathan Archer, but he makes it almost seem plausible that he could suddenly try to “think like a Klingon” despite the fact that he and StarFleet know almost nothing about the alien race.

Ultimately, “Sleeping Dogs” could have been tense, like “The Ship” (reviewed here!) and when Reed realized what a huge tactical advantage recovering the Klingon ship would give StarFleet, the fact that it does not go in that direction at all is disappointing. The fight for survival is oversimplified and given that Reed notes that it would be a shame to lose the shuttlepod (as opposed to caring as much about the three officers who might be lost), it seems to be a glaring problem with the episode that Reed does not strongly advocate for recovering the Klingon ship for the technology (unconscious Klingons aboard notwithstanding). In the end, “Sleeping Dogs” is a banal introduction to the Klingon culture that does service neither to them, nor their human explorers who are learning about them.

The three biggest gaffes in “Sleeping Dogs:”
3. In “A Matter Of Honor” (reviewed here!), the notion of gagh – Klingon serpent worms eaten live – is still clearly a novelty and not something humans are familiar with. Yet in “Sleeping Dogs,” T’Pol knows all about it and shares that information with her human comrades,
2. “Sleeping Dogs” happens five months into the journey of the Enterprise; if the Klingon homeworld and the Klingon Empire’s presence spans so very close to Earth, it seems somewhat ridiculous that the Klingons never conquered or even attacked Earth . . . especially now, when the Klingons have so many styles of ship that T’Pol cannot keep track of them and Earth is defended by a single Warp 5 capable ship with only three phase cannons and a couple of missile launchers,
1. T’Pol asserts that Klingons do not use escape pods. This is directly contradicted by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s “Penumbra” (reviewed here!), where Ezri has to rescue Worf’s escape pod from the Badlands. Equally important, Worf – several times – advocates for living to fight another day as opposed to dying pointlessly.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the premiere season here!
Thanks!]

3.5/10

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

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Simple Idea Barely Sustains Star Trek: Voyager’s “Virtuoso.”

The Good: Decent acting, Interesting concept
The Bad: Very simple idea that does not compellingly sustain the episode, Mediocre direction, Terrible romantic subplot
The Basics: The Emergency Medical Hologram becomes a celebrity on an alien world where the inhabitants had not previously heard music.


Every now and then, Star Trek: Voyager had a remarkably simple idea for an episode that the writers clearly did not know how to flesh out to meet the minimum time requirements. Those episodes usually include a scene or two that is easily noticed to be filler; incongruent moments that have no real connection to the rest of the main plot or even other serialized elements outside the episode. “Virtuoso” is not one of those episodes. Instead, “Virtuoso” is a very simple idea, a direct idea that does not include extraneous scenes.

“Virtuoso” is the second episode in the “holographic rights” arc of The Doctor. Following up on the principles introduced in “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy” (reviewed here!), the Emergency Medical Hologram finds he has cause to want his rights acknowledged again. What starts as a pretty basic episode that plays off a personality flaw with the Doctor quickly turns into an episode that continues to raise the level of debate over what the Doctor’s rights as a holographic life form should be.

Voyager rescues a Qomar ship that breaks down and has to deal with the arrogant individuals they rescue. While humming to himself, the annoying Qomar are shocked. While they view the universe through mathematical equations, they have never heard music before. The Doctor, in the interest of diplomacy, performs for the visiting Qomar. In fact, when Harry Kim’s jazz trio tries to play, they are essentially booed off the stage in favor of the Doctor returning.

But after an impressive performance on the Qomar homeworld, the Doctor becomes a celebrity. A factory begins making holographic collectibles of the Doctor and Janeway fights with him to get him to pay attention to his duties once again. A visit from Tincoo convinces the Doctor that his celebrity on Qomar could endure and he makes the argument with Janeway that he should have the right to leave Voyager. After saying a difficult goodbye to Seven Of Nine, the Doctor departs Voyager to become a musician on the Qomar planet . . . until his celebrity fades.

“Virtuoso” develops well with the Doctor going through a quick arc to being a somewhat jerkish celebrity. After that quick peak, the episode smartly focuses on the emotional ramifications of the Doctor leaving and the effect his ego has on his need to return to Voyager when Tincoo creates an upgraded version of the EMH intended to stay with the Qomar. The character arc is smart and well-developed.

Unfortunately, the direction for the episode is not nearly as clever. While the Qomar are emotionally stunted, that problem pales in comparison to the obvious differences between when actor Robert Picardo is actually singing in a take and when he is lip synching. Director Les Landau captures one of the best performances from Jeri Ryan when the Doctor tells Seven Of Nine he is leaving the ship.

Also problematic in “Virtuoso” is the romantic subplot involving Tincoo and the Doctor. Tincoo and the Doctor have no on-screen chemistry and the story between them is not developed sufficiently before she suddenly tells the Doctor he is meaningful to her. That problem is complicated by how the Doctor equally suddenly seems to reciprocate her affections.

The romantic subplot is a script problem; the actors who execute it do fine with the material they are given. Kate Mulgrew is decent as Janeway in “Virtuoso,” even if the character’s arguments are ill-defined. Most of the episode hinges on the performance of Robert Picardo. Picardo takes the EMH through an extensive emotional range in the episode. In fact, near the climax of the episode, Picardo is given the difficult task of playing a suddenly one-dimensional character separate from that of the Doctor. He manages, in just a few notes, to do just that.

“Virtuoso” is a simple episode that has enough going for it to adequately sell the episode. As a fan of the Star Trek franchise, it is hard not to feel a little stung by the way fans are treated in dialogue between Janeway and Seven Of Nine in the episode, but the episode pulls out at the end with a nice moment that redeems it and keeps it from being a disappointment, at the very least.

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

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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An Interesting Solution To A Compelling Problem Is All That Holds Together “Counterpoint.”

The Good: Interesting concept, Decent characters
The Bad: Poor continuity, Stretched idea.
The Basics: When Voyager encounters a race hostile to telepaths, the viewer gets a “Counterpoint.”


To be fair to Star Trek: Voyager, the writers had a tough task made more difficult by the executive producers’ refusal to present the show as a heavily serialized show. This forced the writers to either write shows dealing with spatial anomalies (because they had no idea whose space the ship would be in when the episode they wrote aired) or write episodes that focused on an Alien Of The Week. By season five of the show, the writers were stretching for compelling ideas for those Alien Of The Week ideas.

“Counterpoint” is one of the more virtuous concepts, but it is such a simple idea that it is hard for the writers to stretch it out into a full-length episode that is at all compelling. Ironically, “Counterpoint” would later be rewritten on Star Trek: Voyager where telepaths were swapped with holograms!

Voyager is passing through Devore space, a race that is exceptionally paranoid about telepaths. Unfortunately for the ship, the frequent inspections by Inspector Kashyk and his team, put Voyager in danger. Voyager’s plight is made worse by the fact that right before entering Devore space, they took on a dozen telepathic refugees. The telepaths left aboard Voyager – and the refugees – are put into the transporter buffers during the inspections. After their latest inspection, the Doctor reveals that Tuvok and two of the refugees are suffering from cellular degradation and cannot continue to be put into stasis in that form.

The situation is complicated when Inspector Kashyk defects. Janeway allows him aboard because he knows about Tuvok and the refugees. Concerned that Kashyk is using her and her crew to find the wormhole that is allowing telepathic refugees to escape, Janeway is guarded and deeply suspicious of the former inspector.

I like the concept of “Counterpoint,” but the explanations and excuses given to prolong the episode make little sense. The inspection teams are treated as a massive threat, but why is not made clear. After all, Kir notes that they cannot read the mind of Kashyk because the Inspectors are specially trained to avoid telepathic scans. If that is the case, the Devore seem to have nothing to fear from telepaths. And if they are not as competent as they claim to be, there seems to be no logical reason why the telepaths could not stand right in front of the inspection teams and telepathically project the appearance of a wall so they go unseen!

Ironically, “Counterpoint” forgets a telepath when the Devore list the telepaths who were supposed to be on Voyager. While they recall the Betazed psychopath killed by the Kazon, they neglect Stadi, the Betazoid helm officer who was killed in the very first episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

To stretch “Counterpoint” to a full-length episode, Janeway and Kashyk enter a pseudo-relationship and it is never quite convincing enough to sell the viewer on even being plausible. Janeway and Kashyk, Kate Mulgrew and guest star Mark Harelik, have less than no chemistry and that sinks the latter half of the episode. Sure, Janeway is sensibly guarded when with Kashyk (save having Tuvok in plain sight in their first meeting after the Devore Inspector defects), but more than the character aspect, it seems an actor issue that these two have no real connection and that makes the relationship aspect not work well.

That said, “Counterpoint” is a decent idea, even if it is executed in a tiresome way seemed designed to prolong the tension that is not genuine.

[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 J. Patrick McCormack, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Charlie Wilson’s War
Star Trek: Nemesis
“In The Beginning” - Babylon 5
“Dr. Bashir, I Presume” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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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A Problematic Concept Mars “Drone.”

The Good: Fine direction, Decent enough acting, Good direction
The Bad: Some lame CG effects, No real character development, Problematic plot/concept
The Basics: When the Doctor’s holo-emiter is partially assimilated, a new style of Borg is created, which causes a serious dilemma for the crew.


I have long argued that one of the serious issues with Star Trek: Voyager was that its development of the Borg made the Borg less menacing and more of a weak race. Seven Of Nine had the potential to humanize the Borg with her understanding of the Collective, which ultimately made episodes like the sixth season finale (which has officers consensually being assimilated) possible. Other risks or developments that the show took made remarkably little sense. “Drone” is the result of one such weakening of the Borg concept.

“Drone” is a somewhat nifty idea that meets a fatal conceptual flaw early on. The Borg, when they assimilate beings and technology, do so from their current state. In other words, the Borg are constantly evolving, so the very notion – which is the subject of “Drone” – of a “27th Century Borg” in the 24th Century is utterly ridiculous. The moment a Borg with 29th Century was created, it would advance the Hive Mind to that level of development. “Drone” pays lip service to the technical issues with having even a single, exceptionally advanced Borg drone aboard the ship.

When a protonebula explodes into existence near Voyager, Torres, Paris, Seven Of Nine, and the Doctor investigate in a shuttlecraft. The shuttle is damaged and when the crew is beamed back the Doctor flickers out of existence. When Torres sets the Doctor’s damaged holo-emitter in the science lab, stray nanoprobes from Seven Of Nine partially assimilate the holo-emitter. The next morning, an ensign interacts with the assimilated holo-emitter and is “sampled.” The Borg-assimilated holo-emitter creates a maturation chamber and within hours, a fully mature Borg with 29th Century technology comes into existence.

Kept alive by Janeway, the Drone seeks orders, which Seven Of Nine attempts to provide by speaking catchphrases and directly interfacing with the Drone. Possessing all of Seven Of Nine’s memories and experiences and 29th Century technology, the drone, One, begins assimilating all of the information it can and it begins to develop into an individual.

“Drone” is a lame episode that is essentially the Star Trek: Voyager reworking of “I, Borg” (reviewed here!). Because Seven Of Nine is the most obvious analogy for Hugh Borg, “Drone” has to redirect the story in the opposite direction. As a result, “Drone” is preoccupied with teaching One to be a Borg and an individual.

Even with the basic concept accepted, “Drone” is problematic in its execution. Star Trek: First Contact (reviewed here!) which happened prior to this episode, featured dramatically faster assimilation. When the Borgified holo-emitter began assimilating the science lab, there was no reasonable explanation for why it stopped at the doorways. Similarly, there is no satisfactory reason given for why Ensign Mulahey is not assimilated to create the drone, as opposed to (improbably enough) a new entity being grown simply to be the organic component of the drone.

Moreover, the script by Bryan Fuller, Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky lacks any cleverness to it. As much as I detest the Braga-style reversals, the resolution to the episode could have been vastly more clever if the drone was shut down by turning out to be mostly holographic and having his photonic (as opposed to organic) components eliminated. As it is, “Drone” creates an advanced Borg drone that becomes increasingly curious about the Borg Collective. When it becomes clear that One cannot be controlled, the episode is managed poorly and improbably. When One subconsciously contacts the Borg Collective, it leads to a lesson on the Borg that does not seem at all compelling.

“Drone” is filled with dull exposition that is thinly disguised. Much of the episode feels like filler, like One describing B’Elanna Torres (the result sounds much like reading the initial character notes for her character). Similarly, the description of the Borg given to One is an understating of the threat the Borg pose.

The episode lacks any real characterization, with the Doctor being portrayed as silly and annoying and Janeway making dimwitted decisions that show no clear understanding of the Borg threat. Even having One reconfigure the shields is a dangerous step that shows a lack of understanding of the character of the Borg: faced with 29th Century shields, the Borg would adapt and be that much farther ahead of current Federation vessels.

In “Drone,” lip service is also paid to Seven Of Nine, who takes on a momentarily maternal aspect in the episode. The exploration of that aspect of her character is not satisfactorily followed through with. As a result, “Drone” ends up as another unsatisfying bottle episode that plants a problematic seed in the franchise that is resolved in a way that follows the path of cheap plot convenience as opposed to reason.

[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!]

4/10

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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You Might Have Thought Our Penal System Was Bad; "The Chute" Is Worse!

The Good: Moments of actual character work, Acting
The Bad: Miserable sense of tone, Stale plot, Pointless overall, Boring
The Basics: In a disappointing prison story, Kim and Paris find their lives in jeopardy from insane inmates and each other.


Star Trek: Voyager lived (and died) by some fairly convenient platitudes that illustrated either a high sense of morality or a complete inability for the writing/production staff to acknowledge any sense of reality for the characters aboard the fledgling starship Voyager. So, while on other Trek series, principles like "leave no (crew)man (or woman) behind," are noble and good, on Star Trek: Voyager they seem overblown and cumbersome. If Captain Janeway were a politician, she might be accused of being out of touch with her constituents. But then, it's Star Trek: Voyager, not the more accurately titled "Star Trek: Derivative." I mockingly call it that because Star Trek: Voyager seemed creatively inept and by the time "The Chute" came around, the idea had been done in one form or another before, including recently on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with the brilliant episode "Hard Time" (reviewed here!).

Harry Kim and Tom Paris find themselves imprisoned aboard a floating gulag in space, convicted of being terrorists on an alien world nearby. Imprisoned with virtually no chance of escape, Harry optimistically decides to hold out for rescue and Paris adapts as best he can to prison (which ought to be familiar to him). However, there's a rub; the crewmen (along with every other inmate) are outfitted with collars that are designed to make the prisoners go insane and Kim and Paris find themselves attacked by outsiders and each other. While Janeway works to prove the pair's innocence and find them, Kim works to stay alive and keep a wounded Paris from dying.

"The Chute" refers to the implied escape route from the gulag, which Kim works hard to get up after spending much of the episode disabling the shield around it. Sadly, this goal is not terribly interesting, especially once the viewer knows what is beyond it (which we learn well before Kim and Paris). But more than that, the episode is remarkably inconsistent as far as the concept behind it.

Kim and Paris are outfitted with devices to make them go crazy. Suspending for the moment the idea that a culture would go through the effort to incarcerate people just to make them go crazy and kill one another as opposed to just executing them outright, the idea is inconsistently applied. Paris succumbs to homicidal thoughts and paranoia surprisingly easily, which seems odd given his free spirit nature and roguish tendencies. But Harry Kim is remarkably resilient in the face of the rage that is supposedly burning inside him.

The thing is, this could be the most extraordinary characterization for Harry Kim and/or StarFleet Officers ever. The problem is, it just doesn't work here. Kim has been portrayed - rightly or wrongly - throughout the series thus far as green and something of a lightweight. He's not particularly strong or clever nor really much of anything other than a "yes-man" to Janeway (having met actor Garret Wang on many a convention, this is a testament to his gifts as an actor because he is nothing like that!). Kim has shown no special discipline to make him suddenly exhibit near superhuman abilities of restraint here.

Indeed, Paris seems the much more likely candidate for an ability to resist based on will - not so much discipline, but the idea that he won't be pushed around - alone. In later episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, Paris exhibits his will in such a way that would seem to imply that he is capable of resisting this type mental anguish (notably "One" and "30 Days"). But more than that, Paris with mental problems has been done in the series before, in the first season's "Ex Post Facto" (reviewed here!). One wonders if the reason Kim becomes the hero here is because most of the audience would actually care if Tom Paris were killed or went crazy whereas if Paris had to kill an insane Harry Kim in self-defense, most of the audience would probably shrug it off and move on. Yes, it's not easy being Kim.

The resulting episode is one that feels long and ponderous. Kim and Paris are plagued by criminals all around, people who go crazy at a moment's notice and wig out on them. Act after act, it is more of the same as Kim and the audience wait for the pair to be rescued. Sadly, there's never a genuine doubt in the mind of the viewer that they will be rescued because Janeway is working diligently to get them out. It never enters the equation that there might be a timetable to getting home and these two crewmembers might be lost enough not to jeopardize the other crewmembers for.

And the real disappointment for fans of the series here will once again be an utter lack of consequences for the developments of this episode. Next week, Harry Kim and Tom Paris will be fine, without any mental hindrances. We get that the show goes on, but if the conditions Paris and Kim are surviving through are truly so terrible, there ought to be some sense of that in episodes that follow.

Lacking genuine menace and a sense that Paris or Kim might actually buy the farm this episode, "The Chute" becomes an overblown psychology play that falls flat. It's a noble attempt, but it still squeaks by with little enthusiasm and less sense of purpose because the mood and pacing are just not there.

In fact, what the episode does have going for it - almost all it has going for it - is the acting. Garret Wang is convincingly noble and forceful in the episode. He is so powerful in his performance that it almost seems like he is playing an entirely different character here. Wang plays "on edge" wonderfully and this is easily one of his best performances of the series. Say what you will about Harry Kim and his blandness, but given the opportunity to shine, Wang will invariably live up to the challenge.

Robert Duncan McNeill gives a fine supporting performance as Tom Paris, though his best moments are playing fatigued and wounded and surrendering center stage to Wang.

The performances aboard Voyager are typical and nothing stands out there as remotely memorable.

Ultimately, this is just an episode that falls flat from its goals. It's not suspenseful enough to keep the viewer engaged and lacking that, it's an extraordinarily tough sell. Not even possible to recommend for fans of psychological horror or thrillers or even drama, this pure science fiction piece is likely to even disappoint fans of the Star Trek franchise.

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

3.5/10

For other Star Trek episode and film reviews, be sure to check out my Star Trek Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wrapping Up The Loose End On Star Trek: Voyager With "Investigations" Yields A Dud!

The Good: Elements of plot and acting
The Bad: Too late in the big picture, Too simple a resolution, Poor character development
The Basics: In a disappointing, plot-heavy episode with a weak plot and terrible characterizations of the primary characters, "Investigations" is not worth your time.


Tom Paris was one of the characters on Star Trek: Voyager who had so much potential when the series began. He was a rogue, a wild card, loyal neither to Janeway and StarFleet, nor to Chakotay and his Maquis half of the crew. He had the potential to shake things up in a serious and interesting way, especially considering he was the best pilot the ship had. Too bad by the second episode, he was domesticated. Throughout the first season, he reforms fully into a bland, StarFleet character who had little or no spark of the original character. This is not an insult to actor Robert Duncan McNeill, but rather an indictment of the writers and producers of Star Trek: Voyager who bastardized and domesticated most of the characters so early on as to rob the show of any genuine sense of identity. So, by the time "Investigations" comes along, any storyline where Tom Paris was treated as a rogue character was pretty much bound to fail.

Neelix has begun a morning talk show on the U.S.S. Voyager as it ambles toward the Alpha Quadrant. On his first episode, he sadly notes that Tom Paris, who has had a tough run of things lately, has left Voyager to go seek his own way home. Taking up with the Talaxians, it does not take long for Paris to run into trouble, trouble in the form of getting abducted by the Kazon-Nistrum, with Seska pulling the strings of the Maje. Janeway writes Paris off, as he is no longer a member of the crew. Neelix, disappointed, begins to honor Michael Jonas as a hero when he is wounded in Engineering.

Things, of course, are not quite what they seem. Paris is going rogue apparently in response to being disciplined in "Lifesigns" (reviewed here!) and anyone watching the show since "Alliances" (reviewed here!) knows that Michael Jonas has been communicating with Seska and he is essentially a traitor. The plot, then, of this episode, is not quite what it seems and the audience is treated like Chakotay.

Chakotay is a tool.

From this point on in the series, Chakotay begins a rapid descent into oblivion. He participates wonderfully in the best episode of the series, but beyond that, he's First Officer Token and it feels like it. In "Investigations," Chakotay is treated like a tool and it's hard not to empathize with him. Chakotay, for those keeping score, was betrayed by Tuvok in "Caretaker," betrayed by Seska in "State Of Flux," and here he is pretty much betrayed by Janeway who uses him to execute her will without her doing the dirty work.

For the three people reading this who cannot tell what is going on in the real plot of the episode, I'll let it surprise you. For those able to read between the lines, the story truly is that predictable. Paris leaving the ship is as pretentious as it appears to the observant viewer and it rings false. Completely false. As a result, the "reversal" is a huge let down and is not only not surprising, but not realistic.

In fact, the more I consider "Investigations," the harder it is for me to remember anything genuinely good about it. The problem here is that it's a plot intensive episode and the plot is pretty terrible based on where the show is. As a factor of character development, "Investigations" fails utterly because Paris has been so thoroughly reformed that his sudden slovenliness does not ring true. It's a hard sell to watch Paris and believe that he truly is slipping. And Star Trek: Voyager is not daring enough to have Paris really degenerate; like spend episodes making him into a drunk or a drug addict or start cutting himself. Something that would sell the audience on the idea that he is seriously and truly messed up and in need of real help. Instead, the producers ask the viewer to swallow Paris as a rogue because he shows up to work late and mouths off to Chakotay. Whoo . . . scary. Chakotay is such a wussy tool by this point in the series, it's surprising Tuvok hasn't made him his bitch!

Moreover, the whole Michael Jonas plotline was poorly handled from the beginning. Overhearing an officer suggesting contacting Seska as a reasonable solution to a problem, Jonas essentially defects and does just that. But what we see him pass along to the Kazon-Nistrum is not terribly useful and there's not much motivating him to do what he is doing, nor to do anything in the future for the Kazon. Star Trek: Voyager should be commended for trying to pick up a serialized arc, but the problem with the Jonas storyline was that he was always a footnote threading together a few random bottle episodes. The producers missed a real opportunity here, like to create something Seska could extort Jonas with to bend him to her will (she is a Cardassian, after all).

And the acting in "Investigations" is largely unconvincing as well. Robert Duncan McNeill, who was wonderful in the pilot episode at creating the character of Paris as a badass rogue portrays Paris with a stiffness that is not organic. He is not convincing to the viewer as a delinquent and it's somewhat insulting how the whole bridge crew buys his juvenile behavior and mannerisms.

Ethan Phillips, who is one of the surprise actors on Star Trek: Voyager who can usually be counted on to rise to the occasion and blow away the viewer with a shocking display of acting ability phones in his performance on "Investigations." Similarly, Martha Hackett's brief appearance as Seska and the portrayal of Jonas are both dull and give the viewer nothing new, nothing beyond what we've seen in the characters before.

"Investigations" is something of a necessary evil episode; it's required to clean up the messy Michael Jonas plotline that has been developing for weeks and the viewer has minimal interest in. The casual viewer will find nothing to enjoy about this episode and it is unlikely even they would be surprised or challenged by the storyline. In fact, this episode insults the intelligence of anyone who enjoys a good espionage episode.

No, there's truly no good reason for anyone to pick up "Investigations," even if you've enjoyed prior episodes that have involved Michael Jonas. You can just assume the plotline went nowhere; even with "Investigations," that remains true.

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

2/10

For other Star Trek reviews, check out my Index Page for an organized listing!

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

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Former Slaves Do Not Make For The Best Of "Alliances" On Star Trek: Voyager

The Good: Interesting cultural development for the Kazon, Acting, Special effects
The Bad: Very predictable and canned plot, No real character development
The Basics: When Neelix is captured by the Kazon while Janeway is trying to negotiate with them, he brings back a character who radically alters a fairly simple plot.


Star Trek: Voyager was hamstrung from its inception by a lack of interesting villains and an ability to reasonably keep them around in the storyline. The show's primary recurring adversaries in the first and second season were the Kazon, basically the Klingons of the Delta Quadrant with big hair, no sense of honor and a nomadic series of cells throughout the Quadrant. They were never impressive or compelling and how the U.S.S. Voyager, which was trying to get home at a speed greater than the Kazon ships could travel at, remained in their territory, running into the same Kazon sect over and over again was somewhat baffling. An attempt to make the Kazon more than generic villains who existed only to try to thwart Captain Janeway and her crew came in "Alliances."

The U.S.S. Voyager, dogged by yet another inconvenient attack by the Kazon, who want their superior technology, decides that it might be time to do something about the pesky Kazon and they follow Chakotay's lead to try to make friends out of their enemies. Janeway contacts Seska and her allies with the Kazon-Nistrum and dispatches Neelix to make contact with the smaller group, the Kazon-Pomar. Neelix is captured in the process and he finds himself cloistered with other captives from the Trabe, a race being victimized by the Kazon. After breaking out to the prison, Neelix and his new Trabe allies, led by Mabus, rendezvous with Voyager and Janeway's options increase.

Of course, nothing is quite what it seems and as a simple plot point, Mabus's ambitions to make peace between the Trabe and the Kazon ring somewhat hollow and dull. Chakotay's idea is honorable in principle, but pointless in execution. After all, Voyager certainly benefits from not having the Kazon shooting at it every other week, but what do the Kazon get from a treaty with Voyager if it doesn't involve getting some of Voyager's technology? After all, all the Kazon have to do is work together a little bit to destroy Voyager and take its technology. Or, come to think of it, why do they even need to do that? The Kazon-Nistrum has Seska, an engineer. Moreover, a Cardassian engineer. She ought to recall all sorts of schematics and help the Kazon advance technologically regardless of how fast Voyager is speeding out of their territory.

This gets into the problem with the plot. "Alliances" is a plot-intensive episode with almost no character development, but not much of a plot either. This episode rapidly transmutes from a "let's make friends with our enemy" episode into a "the enemy of my enemy might be my friend." Mabus becomes a cheap tool to radically alter the direction of the plot when he appears in the episode and while it makes a great deal of sense for the Trabe and Voyager to ally, it seems strange how powerful and clever the Trabe are given their past and their present abilities.

This is where the episode does something right. In fleshing out the Kazon, the writers give them an interesting backstory. It seems the Kazon were once slaves . . . of the Trabe. The Kazon overthrew the Trabe – which was referenced earlier in the season - took their technology and achieved dominance over the little corner of the Delta Quadrant Voyager found itself in. So, technically, the vessels that have been attacking Voyager are not Kazon, but rather, Trabe. The problem is, in order for the reversals at the end to work, the plot has to be respected and understood and Mabus has to appear to be a reasonably convincing guy.

The problem here is twofold, then. The episode is plot heavy and it relies on Mabus to convince the viewer and Janeway that he is trustworthy and a victim who wants peace between his people and the Kazon. He doesn't. But then, why Janeway both believes him and thinks that a treaty between Voyager, the Kazon and the Trabe is all possible is somewhat problematic, more in its execution than the ideology.

This episode also marks the pointlessness of Neelix. Neelix is very easily captured and when he meets the Trabe, it makes the viewer wonder why he didn't know more about the Trabe sooner. After all, he is supposed to be an expert in the Delta Quadrant (he does not become an admittedly pointless character until mid-third season), this seems like the kind of information he ought to have had at his fingertips to help Janeway make decent decisions.

What knocks this otherwise average episode up into the territory where it is worth recommending is the acting. All of the principle actors give performances that are convincing, even when their characters are not entirely sensible. Robert Beltran opens the episode with a performance that allows him to delve into his character's humanism and reason. Sadly, it's one of the last times Beltran is given a significant chunk of dialogue, but he makes it through it perfectly.

Kate Mulgrew gives a wonderful performances as Captain Janeway as well. In "Alliances," she is authoritarian, smart and completely in command. Mulgrew must sell the audience on much of what happens and her final scenes in the episode are some of her best work as far as illustrating the competence and cleverness of her character.

Even recurring guest star Martha Hackett is great as Seska. Seen too briefly in the episode, Hackett is distinctive as the duplicitous Seska and here she plays off her costar Anthony De Longis wonderfully and for the first time, the viewer can see a genuine connection between them.

This episode marks the first appearance of Michael Jonas, a Maquis officer who will have a plot thread in several subsequent episodes. His debut is decent and sets up the first truly serialized arc that Star Trek: Voyager will attempt.

In all, this is a decent episode, though definitely more for fans of Star Trek and Star Trek: Voyager than fans of general science fiction or of political thrillers. It's a fun diversion and one worth coming back to to understand the Kazon, but it's not stellar television at the end of the day.

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

For other works with Raphael Sbarge, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Once Upon A Time - Season 1
ID4: Independence Day


6/10

For other Star Trek reviews, be sure to check out my Star Trek Review Index Page for an organized listing.

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Star Trek: Voyager's Big Success In The First Season Is Plagued With "Heroes And Demons!"

The Good: Funny, Holds up over multiple viewings, Great character development, Wonderful acting
The Bad: Very simple plot
The Basics: When officers are lost in the holodeck, The Doctor must journey into a Beowulf scenario to find them and confront the monster Grendel to do that.


One of the few brilliant ideas that Star Trek: Voyager had from its very beginning was the idea of the Emergency Medical Hologram. The Doctor, as he simply became known as, was supposed to be a temporary supplement to a medical staff and when the entire medical crew is killed in "Caretaker," the temporary program becomes the regular attending physician. Like virtually every other character on Star Trek: Voyager, The Doctor was derivative of a well-executed, very popular idea on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the case of The Doctor, his concept comes from the holographic Moriarty seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Elementary, Dear Data" (reviewed here!) and "Ship In A Bottle" (reviewed here!). The essential struggle of the holographic Moriarty was that he was a hologram who understood he was a hologram and he had a desire to leave the holodeck and enter the real world. Up until "Heroes And Demons," the EMH has been trapped in Sickbay, unable to leave and irritated by his lack of control over his own program.

While the U.S.S. Voyager is meandering its way home, Janeway - scientist that she is - decides to stop at a nearby protostar and beam some samples aboard. Her scientific curiosity gets the better of her and the consequences of her actions are that Ensign Harry Kim, first officer Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok, who were on the holodeck in a Beowulf program become lost. Because the Doctor could safely travel into the holodeck without fear of being destroyed in quite the same way as the other officers, Janeway has him transferred to the holodeck on a rescue mission. Once there, he meets Freya, a warrior who aids him in his search for the lost officers, which takes on the form of . . . encountering Grendel.

With all of the classics that the various Star Trek series's have explored, this is the first time that the franchise has explored the old English (Viking) period and it's a nice exploration for this series, a chance to distinguish it. Moreover, with all of the "disasters in a holodeck" stories that Star Trek: The Next Generation ever did, this one has a feeling of being somewhat fresh and new again. Star Trek: Voyager takes the tired idea that some of our crewmembers might actually perish in the holodeck and makes it feel new and different again.

The primary way that "Heroes and Demons" does that is by focusing on the character elements. The Doctor is a wonderful character to utilize because many of the conceits that the holodeck type stories hinge on are immediately negated through the use of the Doctor. The worst thing that can happen to the EMH is that he can be annoyed, as he proves by irking a Viking and then simply letting the warrior's blade pass through him (which is a cool effect, too). So, the whole tired idea that the holodeck safeties are off means little to a character who is a hologram and cannot truly die either.

By focusing on the Doctor, the episode also very effectively plays with the tongue in cheek idea of the EMH going on an away mission without ever leaving the ship. The Doctor, who has been secure, in control and annoying in Sickbay is finally phased in a way that forces him to grow. Suddenly finding himself in a very different environment, the EMH becomes overwhelmed by the stimulus. This is a very realistic and very humanizing idea that works wonderfully to create a genuine character for the Doctor. Up until now, the Doctor has only been a collection of one-liners and while that has been amusing (some episodes, it's the sole reason to watch), it is hardly enough to establish a great character.

In "Heroes and Demons," the Doctor is not secure, he's not in his element and while there is a great deal of humor and moments that are exciting, the psychological effects on the Doctor are what makes the episode stand up as something more than a simple science fiction piece. This becomes the sterling episode of the first season and one of the best episodes of the series. "Heroes and Demons" succeeds because it successfully transforms a character. The EMH goes from being a clever - if derivative - idea and is transformed into an actual individual and the change is compelling and works beautifully.

The transformation would not be at all believable were it not for the acting talents of Robert Picardo, who plays The Doctor. Picardo, who up until now has been mostly utilizing his uncanny comedic talents and ability to make dramatic revelations right before the opening credits, infuses the EMH with a wider range of body language, facial expressions and genuine emotions. Picardo makes every scene he is in instantly compelling and he infuses a character who - on the page - is being humanized with humanity.

Guest star Marjorie Monaghan as Freya. Monaghan is cast in the role of "female sidekick" to Picardo's "hero," but she makes the bit role of Freya her own. Monaghan has a strong sense of physical presence that allows her to create a character who is believably strong, yet who softens some by the end of the episode. She holds her own with Picardo and that makes her memorable.

The special effects in "Heroes And Demons" are decent and impressive when one considers how little lead time the creative staff had to create things like the Viking hall and all of the armor. This is an episode that looks great and is very easy to get into. Far more about the psychological journey that the EMH is on than the technical aspects of how Kim and the others are lost, "Heroes And Demons" becomes something bigger than this series.

Unfortunately, for fans of the franchise, this is essentially a very "done" idea, even if it is recast rather well. Fans of Star Trek and science fiction in general are more likely to enjoy what is familiar about this episode than to be truly astonished or challenged by it. Ultimately, though, it's a great entrance point for those who have never experienced an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. It has a high entertainment value and it does quite a bit of character growth, which is what good television ought to.

Sadly, though, there is very little menace to the characters, making the ultimate resolution quite predictable. Still, it's one of the few Star Trek: Voyager episodes worth returning repeatedly to. This is definitely one of the best of the first season!

[Knowing that the season is a much better investment, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete First Season on DVD, which provides the full opening to the series. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Michael Keenan, be sure to check out my reviews of:
“Sub Rosa”
“Statistical Probabilities”
“Chrysalis”

9/10

For other Star Trek reviews, be sure to check out my Star Trek Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Another Star Trek: Voyager Episode Where The Crew Remembers It's Trying To Return Home Is “Prime Factors!”

The Good: Excellent character development, Decent plot
The Bad: Lack of convincing acting, Predictability
The Basics: When the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager finds a shortcut home, they find themselves at the mercy of another planet's ethics.


For those who have never seen an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, it might be nice to consider that the show had something that it was about. In the pilot episode, "Caretaker" (reviewed here!), the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager is catapulted tens of thousands of light years away into an area of space where it becomes trapped with an opposing crew and they vow to work together to head for home. I write "might be nice" because the show is barely ever about the actual effort to return home and more about the obstacles the starship encounters on its long journey home. Up until this point, "Prime Factors," the series has been more about accepting that the ship is lost in the middle of nowhere as opposed to getting home. Sure, there was a brief glimmer of hope in "Eye Of The Needle" (reviewed here!), but that was squashed pretty thoroughly. The first legitimate "cheat" comes in "Prime Factors," when the crew encounters a race that could do them the favor of launching the starship 40,000 light years (over half the journey) closer to home.

The U.S.S. Voyager arrives as Sikaris, an advanced, pacifistic world that has trajector technology. A small device located on Sikaris allows crewmembers to transport themselves to remote destinations instantly, which Harry Kim soon learns. He returns to his compatriots on Voyager excited and this leads several members of the crew to become determined to obtain the technology. While Janeway negotiates with the planet's leader for the trajector technology, other elements on the starship Voyager make less savory alliances for the same. While Maquis B'Elanna Torres and Seska team up with deposed engineer Carey, an unlikely individual joins their conspiracy, one whose betrayal hits Janeway very personally.

No, I'm not going to ruin the surprise of which main cast member joins an effort to make an illegal trade for the technology that the legitimate government of Sikaris is unwilling to give up. "Prime Factors" is a refreshing change of pace because the moral superiority of the Federation and StarFleet comes back and bites our desperate crew in the butt. Yes, it seems the planet Sikaris has its own Prime Directive and that prevents them from dealing in any technology that could advance another race beyond its current development.

For those unfamiliar with the Star Trek (franchise) principle of the Prime Directive, it is the first, highest rule of StarFleet that declares that no member of StarFleet will interfere in the internal workings or development of an alien culture or civilization. It's the nice little law that prevents the Federation from becoming a military menace and bombing the crap out of annoying enemies. It is the rule that prevents Captain Picard from stopping armed Angosians from killing the legitimate government of a planet in "The Hunted" (reviewed here!). It is the law that Captain Kirk violates to save his ship from Vaal in "The Apple" (reviewed here!).

And "Prime Factors" is not the first time that the Prime Directive has been applied to our intrepid explorers and heroes before. Back in Star Trek, the Halkan Council refused to share its planet's rich dilithium reserves with Kirk and StarFleet because of their refusal to be any part of war in "Mirror, Mirror." Yes, it's somewhat enjoyable to watch the moral superiority of our heroes be undone when they need something and the Sikarans of "Prime Factors" cling to their moral code as closely as Janeway clings to hers.

Janeway's character is wonderfully enhanced by the strong moral position she takes in "Prime Factors." In "Caretaker," the captain pledged to run the ship like a StarFleet ship, to embody Federation values even so far from home. In "Prime Factors," she lives up to her end of the bargain by actually embodying those things she pledged to. Despite her disappointment, Janeway understands Labin's - the planetary leader's - reasoning and respects his own principled stand.

And the characters who conspire to save the U.S.S. Voyager forty years of travel have very human (ironic considering only one of the conspirators is human) motivations and beliefs. They want to return home. Torres wants to start her life over, Carey wants to be the head of an engineering department and Seska wants to return to fighting the Maquis fight (wink wink, nudge nudge, wait until next week . . .). These are all very natural and compelling reasons for them to try to make a trade for advanced technology and it makes the episode generally watchable.

The problem is, the acting is very choreographed. Of course, the acting is choreographed, it's acting, the actors are given directions and walked through their moves and their lines. The problem with "Prime Factors" is that it feels just like that. The viewer waits and waits for any performance to be real and compelling. While the characters are written that way, the performances just do not pop. So, for example, Roxann Biggs-Dawson seems somewhat lacking in affect as Torres in this episode.

Even Kate Mulgrew, whose character of Janeway gives some excellent speeches on morals seems like she is phoning in her performance. The episode suffers because much of it is a collection of speeches as opposed to genuinely expressed ideas and emotions.

And in the larger context of things, this is a remarkably predictable episode. After all, it's episode #10 of Star Trek: Voyager, the audience knows that the ship is not going to get home. And with the establishment of such Delta Quadrant villains as the Kazon and the Vidiians (introduced in "Phage," reviewed here!), it seems unlikely that they'll even make extensive progress.

Moreover, with all of the Star Trek franchise episodes I was able to cite from memory that deal with precisely this type of dilemma, "Prime Factors" feels remarkably derivative. This is an old debate in the Trek universe and the Star Trek: Voyager twist is only unique in the stakes that are being played with. The difference between the Sikarans in "Prime Factors" and the Halkans in "Mirror, Mirror" are virtually nonexistent. The plot has been done, the themes have been beaten into the heads of the fans and that's disappointing that this episode offers nothing genuinely new.

Indeed, "Prime Factors" had the potential to be one of the great moments when Star Trek: Voyager could have done something clever with serialization, but instead it tread toward the episodic, neatly tying up all the loose ends by the end of the episode. It is ultimately that, combined with the mediocre acting that made me consider “Prime Factors” average-at-best.

With very little to offer those who are not fans of Star Trek: Voyager (it's virtually impossible to become emotionally invested in the characters based on this episode) and less to offer those who have experiences a lot of the Star Trek franchise, "Prime Factors" fails to engage viewers and maintain suspension of disbelief.

[Knowing that the season is a much better investment, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete First Season on DVD, which provides the full opening to the series. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

5/10

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

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Kes, Paris And Janeway Shine "Time And Again!"

The Good: Well-acted, Interesting concept, Interesting resolution, Moments of character
The Bad: Seems slow upon multiple rewatchings
The Basics: While the characters who are still being established in "Time And Again" are derivative of earlier Star Trek series', this episode manages to combine elements well to be entertaining.


Star Trek: Voyager had one of the more interesting concepts when it began, certainly stronger than Star Trek: The Next Generation (reviewed here!) because it had a premise that seemed logically serialized. The U.S.S. Voyager was lost seventy years away from Federation space, populated by two different crews that were fundamentally at odds with one another, the story seemed like it would make most sense as the tale of a ship slowly degrading as years went by with it under attack, lost and without the ability to get basic maintenance done. Sigh . . . it could have been a good idea and it could have worked. As it is, Star Trek: Voyager rapidly became episodic (everything wraps up nicely by the end of an episode, with the series having little to do with consequences of actions) and one of the last episodes in the first season to even put up a pretense of being serialized was the third episode, "Time And Again," even if the serialized aspects were only passing references.

The U.S.S. Voyager discovers a planet where all life has been wiped out and upon beaming down, a landing party discovers roving filaments that essentially act as time-space portals. They are unpredictable and hard to detect and by the time the Away Team beams back up, Paris and Janeway have been lost. The two find themselves in the past of the planet and they soon realize that the disaster that wiped out all life on the planet is imminent and they work to stop it. As the planet is overcome with protests and revolutions over a power source, Janeway and Paris work to stop a catastrophe. Back in the future, Kes begins to manifest an understanding of how time has been altered and she works with Chakotay to rescue Paris and Kes.

And the whole thing comes together in a way that is astonishingly similar to the preceding episode, "Parallax" (reviewed here!), which is kind of odd considering that one would think at the beginning of a series the producers would be at their most creative. And yet, here is another "Spatial Phenomenon of the Week" episode and it's way too similar to the prior episode to make it a terribly unique plot. However, the plot here seems a bit fresher because the events that occur seem to be more character-driven. In short, instead of "Voyager falls into a hole in space," "Time And Again" becomes an episode with more the concept of "Voyager's crew creates the holes in space."

Interestingly, the lone attempt in "Time And Again" to make the episode serialized is a wonderful scene involving The Doctor and Kes. Kes, an Ocampa, is a new alien species for the Doctor to deal with and he is upset that no one had her take a physical when she came aboard. It is at this moment that the Emergency Medical Hologram is told that she is not the only newcomer on the ship, that half the crew is dead and half the crew is now made up of Maquis rebels from another ship. His reaction is wonderful and it makes the episode.

But the majority of the episode is very insular, very much a story trying to figure out the nature of the accident that destroyed the alien planet and avert the disaster (or at least recover Janeway and Paris). What it does well, though, is use Janeway and Paris. Janeway is characterized in this episode as a diplomat and a take-charge captain. She is a scientist who works hard to evaluate her surroundings and use reason to work her way out of the situation. Paris seems glad to be on a planet, to breathe fresh air (in the past) and just walk around. He is wonderfully characterized here as a rogue who can pretty much take-it-or-leave-it as Janeway works to figure things out.

Sadly, Paris is teamed up for part of the episode with a child and the child actor is not one of the better ones the casting department ever dug up. The kid saw Janeway and Paris materialize and he has a pretty good idea that they do not belong there, so he begins to agitate them. Paris illustrates wonderful character by not simply throwing the kid through a plate-glass window (which I think might have made the episode more interesting).

Star Trek: Voyager seems to be having trouble establishing its characters as unique for the series, though. B'Elanna Torres is a half-Klingon, half-human woman modeled after K'Ehleyr from Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Reunion," reviewed here!) so closely that like the earlier hybrid, she loathes all things Klingon. Paris is a rogue modeled after a character Robert Duncan McNeill played on Star Trek: The Next Generation in "The First Duty" (reviewed here!). There is so little differentiation between Paris and Nick Locarno that early on many fans thought he was the same character! In a similar way, Kes in this episode begins to take on some of the soft-spoken temporal understanding powers that are evident in Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In "Yesterday's Enterprise" (reviewed here!), Guinan seems to understand that time has been radically altered and the episode revolves around her asserting that understanding to set things right. In "Time And Again," Kes develops the powers to do that very same thing. It's a shame that her character is so derivative, adding to a collection of other derivative characters.

Regardless, "Time And Again" is remarkable for the way that it uses its actors. While Kes may be derivative, she certainly portrays Kes in a very different way than Whoopi Goldberg played Guinan. Kes is young and bright, eager, where Guinan is quiet, serene and wise. Actress Jennifer Lein plays Kes and "Time And Again" gives a hint at her potential as a bright, intuitive actress. Lein is articulate, eager and very expressive as Kes here. She's a bit of a gem and - having met her in person - the extroverted nature of the character is certainly a stretch for the actress.

Robert Duncan McNeill is good as Paris and in "Time And Again," he seems very laid back, very comfortable within the skin of his sarcastic character. McNeill makes acting seem easy as he wanders through this episode as Paris. Similarly, Kate Mulgrew takes a very simple approach to Janeway in "Time And Again" that simply works to establish Janeway as a credible scientist and captain. Mulgrew pulls it off with a strong sense of posture. It may seem off, but what Mulgrew does to create a dignity and inner strength for Janeway is all in posture in this episode. When her character is trying to be less noticeable on the planet in the past, she loosens her shoulders some, when she is being assertive, she squares off wonderfully. Mulgrew makes herself here a credible woman of strength and power.

"Time And Again" is a good episode for fans of Star Trek and science fiction in general, but it is hard to recommend for general fans of television. This is a somewhat engaged episode that is still working to establish characters and a sense of place and time for Star Trek: Voyager and while I enjoyed that, the environmental subtext is greatly sublimated by the overbearing nature of the "solve the riddle of the Spatial Phenomenon of the Week" plot. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to people who like science fiction, if not a general audience.

[Knowing that the season is a much better investment, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete First Season on DVD, which provides the full opening to the series. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

5.5/10

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

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Ezri Dax Settles In Through Jadzia’s “Afterimage”

The Good: Decent character development, Good Acting
The Bad: Almost nonexistent plot
The Basics: While Sisko works to keep Ezri aboard the station, Garak suffers from claustrophobia which, conveniently enough, requires a counselor in “Afterimage.”


Despite ending with one of the longest sustained plot arcs in the Star Trek franchise and going out with a resounding bang, the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine began with a somewhat rocky start. That is, arguably, because the show had to accommodate the new character, Ezri Dax before it continued along. Even as the b-plots continue to develop the main characters, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine did not simply become the Ezri Dax Show, in contrast to the way Star Trek: Voyager became The Seven Of Nine Show when Jeri Ryan appeared on it. That said, the show did have to devote some time to making viewers care about newcomer Ezri Dax. That is, inarguably, the whole point of “Afterimage.”

“Afterimage” is a “necessary evil” episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that serves the purpose of getting Ezri Dax to remain past the first three episodes of the new season. It is in this episode that Ezri struggles with who she is, who she might become and how those around her react to her. In true Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fashion, it is in this episode that Ezri Dax proves that she actually has something to contribute to the cast and the mix of characters aboard the station.

Having returned once again to Deep Space Nine, Sisko has resumed command and Kira is getting to know Ezri Dax. Ezri is unsettled because she remembers being killed in the shrine, Worf is standoffish to her and part of her is unfamiliar with the station and the other portion knows the station in intimate detail. While Ezri’s problems encourage her to abandon StarFleet and return to Trill in order to learn how to better integrate the Symbiont, Sisko and Bashir find use for her talents. Garak, as it turns out, is suffering from crippling claustrophobia, which is preventing him from focusing enough to complete plans for a Federation assult.

As Garak tries to rattle Ezri, the young counselor uses the holosuites to treat the Cardassian and she puts up with his uncharacteristically abrasive personality. But her solution does not get to the root of the problem, which forces her to look deeper. In the process, Ezri learns an important lesson about herself.

In many ways, “Afterimage” is a filler episode that explains why Ezri Dax would remain with the crew. Theoretically, Deep Space Nine already has a Counselor and a counseling staff; one was alluded to in “Hard Time” (reviewed here!). But the viewer has never seen the station’s counselor and as a result, the idea that only Ezri can solve Garak’s issue may seem contrived, but it works. It also gives the show a chance to add more personality aspects to Ezri Dax that are distinctive. She gets motion sickness and she is deeply insecure, something which Jadzia Dax could never credibly be called.

It also gives a chance to realign the dynamics aboard the station. Worf is hostile to Ezri and in “Afterimage,” we learn that it is not just Worf being a jerk; he is actually trying to honor Jadzia’s wishes (not endangering the Dax Symbiont through reassociation) as well as keep his own emotional health. He, understandably, misses Jadzia, but he does not want to live in the past by getting too close to Ezri. So, “Afterimage” gives the two a chance to start a new, if distant, relationship. It also gives Ezri and Garak a chance to start a relationship, which is interesting because Jadzia and Garak seldom shared scenes.

Ultimately, “Afterimage” is not bad; it is fairly average. But not much happens in it, none of the performances are bad or superlative and it is hard to muster up much enthusiasm to write more about such an average episode.

[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!]

6.5/10

See how this episode stacks up against others in the franchise by visiting my specialized Star Trek Review Index Page where the reviews are organized from best of the franchise to worst!

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