Seth MacFarlane Makes Better Trek With The Orville Season 1 Than The Current Custodians Of That Franchise!

The Good: Good dialogue, Engaging plots, Decent characters and character development, Genuinely funny, Special effects
The Bad: Short season, Some moments of predictability/less-developed characters
The Basics: The Orville Season 1 is a love letter to what Star Trek used to be with fresh, realistic dialogue and characters, making it a must-watch show!


Seth MacFarlane is, no doubt, tired of hearing comparisons between his show, The Orville, and Star Trek. And yet, it is hard not to make those comparisons given that the writing for The Orville - at least on the plot and theme fronts - is such a clear homage to Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation. In some of its most clever moments, The Orville even makes allusions to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager; yes, all of the Star Trek franchise from when the franchise was growing, at its peak, and maintained a pretty consistent level of quality. Anyone who has listened to a commentary track or interview featuring Seth MacFarlane or have watched the episodes he wrote and developed of his other shows knows that Seth MacFarlane is a big fan of the Star Trek franchise. And while The Orville is not part of the Star Trek franchise, it has more of the thematic heart and soul of Star Trek than the hideous current Star Trek television series, Star Trek: Discovery.

But, to dispense with the comparative aspects, The Orville Season 1 is a twelve episode season of science fiction comedy that follows the adventures of the starship Orville, 400 years in the future. The adventures are, largely, recognizable to fans of the Star Trek franchise. There is an "everybody falls in love" style episode, an "alien culture with one key difference makes for an allegory to a contemporary social problem" style episode, aliens capture important crewmembers for a zoo or experimentation and the season finale is deft weaving together of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Meridian" (reviewed here!) and the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Blink Of An Eye" (reviewed here!). The Orville even cleverly rewrites and reworks the classic Star Trek episode "For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky" (reviewed here!). The plots of The Orville are not likely to surprise fans of the Star Trek franchise.

But those fans are likely to be entertained and excited by the twelve episodes of the first season of The Orville.

The Orville is a science fiction comedy and what sets it apart from the more straightlaced science fiction works like (most of) the Star Trek franchise is the dialogue and the characters. The characters in The Orville talk like real people, they interact like real people, they encounter their fantastic circumstances and alien influences like human beings, not over-the-top archetypes. The characters interact with a surprising sense of realism; the series opens with the would-be Captain being cheated on and he does not simply forgive his ex-wife, the helmsman and navigator joke with one another and develop a friendship but Lt. Malloy is a bad influence on Lt. LaMarr, and the ship's doctor is hit on relentlessly by a gelatinous being who she is not interested in. The alien characters, like Alara, have realistic conflicts - her boyfriend is intimidated by her physical strength, so she finds herself constantly loveless. The most prominent alien couple, Bortus and his partner Klyden, are strained when they have a child . . . and the robot character, Isaac, acts as a mirror that allows human nature to be explicitly explored.

Set hundreds of years in the future, when humans are the dominant population of the interstellar Union, Ed Mercer returns home to find his wife in bed with a blue-skinned alien. Pissed off, Mercer leaves Kelly and loathes her for her behavior. But, when the Orville is commissioned and prepared to leave spacedock, Kelly calls in a favor from Admiral Halsey, arranging for Mercer to get command of the new ship. Kelly is assigned as First Officer of the Orville, much to Mercer's disgust. But, Mercer assembles his command staff and the ship heads out into the galaxy.

On the outer reaches of explored space, the Orville comes under attack by the Krill, a vicious alien race that thrives on warfare. The ship encounters a massive colony ship where the people are ignorant of the fact that they are aboard a spaceship and they are oppressed by a fanatical religious order. One of the command crew gets trapped in a series of nightmares and the all-male race that is represented on the Orville by Bortus and Klyden experiences a schism when the pair has a daughter. Kelly accidentally influences a less-evolved alien race and Mercer and Malloy have to go undercover on a Krill ship to prevent a major attack on the Union.

The Orville features characters who joke with one another, react in unprofessional ways - they get freaked out by horrible or dangerous things when they encounter them - and have realistic, often carnal, needs. The characters make mistakes, try to live up to higher ideals and do not always succeed and they hold grudges. As a result, The Orville Season 1 is remarkably accessible and entertaining. The characters are relatable and in most of the episodes, they are funny. The show is dominated by the hate-love relationship between Ed Mercer and Kelly Grayson, but most of the characters are surprisingly well-developed over the course of the first season.

In the first season of The Orville, the primary characters are:

Captain Ed Mercer - Promoted to Captain of the Orville, he is bitter about having to take Grayson on as his First Officer. He is good-natured and friendly and curious about the cultures of the different alien races of his crew and the planets the Orville visits. He is friends with Malloy and slowly comes to rely upon Grayson for her perspective. He is good at improvising when he has to and does his best to oversee the crew of the Orville, even though he does not know all their names,

Commander Kelly Grayson - Mercer's ex-wife, she had an affair with Darulio and is shocked when he turns up as an expert needed for one of the Orville's missions. She is patient with Mercer while he works through his feelings over her betrayal. She befriends Alara and quickly recognizes the potential in LaMarr and advocates on his behalf,

Dr. Claire Finn - A single mother of two boys, she sees to the wellbeing of the crew of the Orville. She is hit on by Yaphit - a gelatinous assistant chief engineer who is very smarmy - and is excellent at her job,

Lt. Commander Bortus - One of two Moclans (an all-male race) aboard the Orville, he is married to Klyden and he acts as the ship's Second Officer. He and Klyden are shocked when they have a girl, which forces them to return to Moclan to determine what to do about their gendered child. He is unfamiliar with human customs and is awkward in many of their social situations. He and Klyden become somewhat estranged after their daughter is born,

Lt. Alara Kitan - The security chief of the Orville, she is a young woman with super-strength because of her planet's higher-gravity. Mercer quickly comes to rely upon her for her strength when the ship encounters closed doors and violent aliens. When she freezes up during an emergency in Engineering, she becomes determined to excise herself of fear,

Lt. Gordon Malloy - A slacker helmsman, he loves practical jokes and is one of the few members of the Orville crew that Mercer knows coming in. He is sarcastic and pranks Isaac until the robot's turnabout turns out to be horrible for him. He is a bad influence on LaMarr, but he is so good at what he does that Mercer taps him to help infiltrate a Krill warship,

Lt. John LaMarr - The ship's navigator, he tries to fly under the radar by not living up to his potential. He is part of a mission where he humps a statue and becomes a criminal on a planet where criminals are judged by social media. He is put in the running for Chief Engineer when Newton decides to move on,

and Isaac - The ship's science officer and a robot, he is unfamiliar with many human mannerisms and asks the bridge crew about them. With a power supply that is designed to last for millions of years, he is chosen for a mission on a planet where time moves at a very different rate than in our universe. He tries his hand at pranks with Malloy and mutilates the other bridge officer!

The Orville might be derivative of Star Trek for its plots and sense of cultural advancement, but it has a strong, unique look and feel to it. The Orville is well-lit, the crew moves at a relaxed pace, the faster-than-light engine conceit is a fun light-up effect on the aft bows of the ship; the universe in which The Orville is set looks advanced and comfortable, while still populating that setting with relatable characters.

Seth MacFarlane wrote most of the episodes in the first season of The Orville and he stars as Captain Ed Mercer. MacFarlane and Adrienne Palicki have great on-screen chemistry to play the bickering couple, while maintaining a sense that the characters might well have had good years together prior to their split. Peter Macon and Halston Sage play the alien characters with a delightful, off-put quality that makes them feel like they are not quite used to working with the humans their characters are surrounded by. Penny Johnson Jerald leaps into the role of Chief Medical Officer with all the jargon her Star Trek Deep Space Nine character was never saddled with quite ably.

Ultimately, The Orville Season 1 is an entertaining, thematically-smart science fiction romp that manages to consistently find the right balance between humor and moralizing, realistic dialogue and science fiction action sequences, making for one of the 2017 television season's most delightful surprises!

For other works from the 2017 - 2018 television season, please check out my reviews of:
The Punisher - Season 1
"A Life Earned" - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Inhumans - Season 1
Stranger Things - Season 2
Rick And Morty - Season 3
"Beebo The God Of War" - Legends Of Tomorrow
"Don't Run" - The Flash
"Reign" - Supergirl
"Crisis On Earth-X, Part 2" - Arrow
"Into The Forest I Go" - Star Trek: Discovery
Twin Peaks - Season 3 ("The Return")
Game Of Thrones - Season 7
The Defenders - Season 1
Friends From College - Season 1

7/10

For other television and movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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“Endings Are Such Sweet Mediocrity” Why “Endgame” Is Not A Great Finale For Star Trek: Voyager!

The Good: Special effects, Moments of plot and character, Most of the performances are fine
The Bad: Conceptually preposterous plot, Inorganic character motivations, Derivative nature
The Basics: “Endgame” brings Star Trek: Voyager to a close in an action-packed episode that falls apart the moment one begins to closely look at it!


Back when I was on the convention circuit, dealing most weekends at various Star Trek conventions around the United States, I took particular delight in posing the question, “Who is the most important character on Voyager?” Almost no one ever got it right. While Janeway is the instrument, the motivation for Star Trek: Voyager is, of all characters, Tuvok. Tuvok is the reason Voyager gets lost in the Delta Quadrant in “Caretaker” (reviewed here!) as Janeway goes searching for the ship he was lost on while undercover and in the series finale, “Endgame,” it is the plight of Tuvok that finally sells Captain Janeway on using a shortcut home.

“Endgame” is a season finale that makes a wink and a nudge to the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation in more than just the costumes (the later 24th Century costumes are seen in that finale and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “The Visitor,” reviewed here!). Some of the temporal mechanics issues in “Endgame” are disturbingly similar to those in the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as are some of the character motivations. Unfortunately, while “Endgame” similarly ties up loose ends for Voyager, some of the relationship issues that motivate characters in “Endgame” (most notably the Seven Of Nine/Chakotay relationship) seem somewhat contrived or rushed to.

Starting on the tenth anniversary of Voyager’s return to Earth after a twenty-three year journey home, Admiral Janeway is working to tie up loose ends in her life. She has Torres and Paris’s daughter assigned to a secret mission, though StarFleet Command denies she is a part of any classified missions and she seems to be working for Temporal Mechanics and StarFleet Academy. Working with Commander Reginald Barclay and having procured an experimental compound from the holographic doctor (Joe), Admiral Janeway says goodbye to the mentally-fractured Tuvok and disappears in a shuttle to meet with a corrupt Klingon, Korath. Shortly after getting ablative armor technology from Korath, Janeway is picked up by Captain Kim and his ship, the U.S.S. Rhode Island. Admiral Janeway talks Kim into letting her go, on a mission into the past to save Voyager sixteen years of its journey and more than twenty lives in the process.

Interspersed with the future narrative, in the standard timeframe, Voyager passes a red giant where it detects an inordinate amount of Borg activity. While Chakotay and Seven Of Nine have their third date and Torres has her umpteenth false labor, Captain Janeway feels relief that the ship managed to avoid contact with the Borg and counts her blessings. But that changes when a spatial anomaly appears in Voyager’s path and Tuvok detects Klingon weapons fire from the other side of the anomaly. Admiral Janeway’s shuttle emerges from the phenomenon and Admiral Janeway orders her younger self to close the rift. When that is done and Admiral Janeway’s identity is authenticated, Admiral Janeway slowly reveals to her younger self the truth of her mission: she wants Janeway to take Voyager back to the Borg transwarp hub they passed days prior, outfit Voyager with ablative armor technology, and use the transwarp hub to get home. Captain Janeway, however, only wants to use the technology to destroy the Borg’s massive tactical advantage. Working together, the present and future Janeway work out a tactic that may allow them to accomplish both goals.

First, what I liked most about “Endgame:” there is a remarkably clever and subtle element to the episode that I take peculiar delight in. In order to sell Captain Janeway on the importance of going along with her plan, Admiral Janeway reveals elements of the future to her younger self. The fact that gets Captain Janeway to stop with her wholesale objections to her older self’s plan is learning that three years in the future, Seven Of Nine will die. In authenticating Admiral Janeway’s identity, the Doctor discovers a microchip in Admiral Janeway’s brain that the Admiral informs him he developed some twelve years ago. What delights me here is the implication: that after Seven Of Nine died, the EMH began to study her discarded Borg implants and developed Federation-based microtechnology that replicated some of the Borg’s cybernetic technologies!

For all the rushed nature of it, I did like the character relationships in “Endgame” as well. The future ones play off a longer sense of the journey and having Harry Kim advocate in favor of a longer journey, but destroying the Borg Transwarp Hub is pretty cool. Also cute was that Paris takes a moment to note that he will win the betting pool on the birth of his child. The acting is also fine throughout the episode, though the only one given a real performance challenge is Kate Mulgrew, who has to play off herself for several long scenes.

Unfortunately, the novelty aspects and the decent acting do not negate the severe issues with “Endgame.” The first problem is conceptual: “Endgame” acts as if Star Trek: Voyager was a heavily serialized show when it most explicitly was not. In fact, the producers wanted to avoid a second serialized Star Trek as, when Star Trek: Voyager began, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was already doing long arcs. “Endgame” is all about consequences and Star Trek: Voyager has largely lacked that. For sure, there was the occasional episode where the ship was running low on deuterium, but by the beginning of almost every episode, Voyager was back to being perfectly intact, despite years without maintenance at a StarBase. To sell Captain Janeway on the importance of her mission, she has to convince her younger self that the consequences outweigh the temporal prime directive issues. Unfortunately, this is a sophisticated argument in a show that has pointedly avoided developing that very level of detail and continuity.

This leads to the primary, severe, plot and character issue in “Endgame.” “Endgame” is a temporal tampering episode that ultimately makes no rational sense. Admiral Janeway arrives in Captain Janeway’s time to explicitly alter the flow of history. Fine, I can buy the premise. I accept the premise entirely. What does not make sense is the timing. Admiral Janeway is prepared to equip Voyager with the technology and information needed to make it reasonable to erase sixteen years of its voyage and restructure the ten years that followed that. She does this by playing on Captain Janeway’s feelings of loyalty to her crew and in the knowledge that in the sixteen years that will be erased, Captain Janeway will save the lives of twenty of her crew and get Tuvok the medical attention he needs in the Alpha Quadrant before his degenerative disease makes him into a turnip. [Sidebar: We’re asked to believe that in seven years, Janeway can effectively travel 40 years worth of distance, but in the subsequent sixteen years she finds no anomalies that take the other 30 years off the trip significantly faster?!] What about all of the crew that was killed when the Caretaker abducted Voyager and all of the casualties that mounted over the seven years of Star Trek: Voyager?! Armed with the knowledge of Admiral Janeway, Captain Janeway trades millions of lives for . . . twenty and the mental health of another. “What?!” I hear you cry. Walk with me. If Admiral Janeway had simply gone back to the beginning, preventing the Maquis from being abducted by the Caretaker and preventing Voyager from similarly being taken, millions of people survive. First, there are all the people on Voyager who stay alive and could actually be, potentially, an asset to StarFleet during the Dominion War. So, initial Maquis and StarFleet deaths are reduced to zero. But then, there are all the ancillary deaths that occurred as a result of Voyager’s journey through the Delta Quadrant, most notably the millions of Borg killed by the Borg Queen in “Unimatrix Zero, Part 2” (reviewed here!). So, rather selfishly and stupidly, Janeway trades the lives of dozens of StarFleet officers, several Maquis, and millions of Borg for . . . Seven Of Nine. The only character who faces a real life or death change by Voyager returning to Earth after seven years in the Delta Quadrant is Seven Of Nine. Otherwise, she would have remained a Borg. There are a shitton of other temporal problems with “Endgame,” but the ethical argument that is made in the episode ultimately comes down to Janeway trading the last twenty casualties for sixteen years. This makes no sense because if one is going to go ahead and alter decades of time anyway, why not save the greatest number of lives?!

This leads to the biggest character problem in “Endgame,” which (admittedly) is biased for me by actress Kate Mulgrew. I did a convention with Kate Mulgrew the week after “Endgame” aired and I recall Mulgrew very proudly telling a little girl (could not have been more than ten) that she killed the Borg Queen. Admiral Janeway does, in fact, go up against the Borg Queen and here the writers fall down. Admiral Janeway has worked for Temporal Mechanics and, presumably, has access to all of the classified data they have, at least as it pertains to the Borg. So, Janeway should know that the Borg Queen has been killed at least twice by that point. Why does she think that when she kills the Borg Queen it will be any more permanent than when Riker or Data killed the Borg Queen before?!

And so, Star Trek: Voyager ends with the same issues that dominated it for the entire series: it goes out with a big bang of spectacle and style that is pretty immediately recognized as lacking in substance the moment one scratches surface.

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

For other Star Trek finales, please visit my reviews of:
“Turnabout Intruder” - Star Trek
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
“All Good Things . . .” - Star Trek: The Next Generation
“What You Leave Behind” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Nemesis

4/10

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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The Doctor’s Last Hurrah Illustrates Him To Be A “Renaissance Man!”

The Good: Moments of performance, Moments of plot
The Bad: Problematic plot and character aspects, Mediocre special effects.
The Basics: When The Doctor is extorted by an alien race, he makes some poor decisions in a mediocre episode.


It always surprised me when the “breakout character” for a television show is one that the producers of the show somehow did not figure would be the character audiences were drawn to. In the case of Star Trek: Voyager, the breakout character was the Emergency Medical Hologram. The Doctor was witty, sarcastic, and intriguing and actor Robert Picardo portrayed him exceptionally well. Even after Seven Of Nine arrived on Star Trek: Voyager and took much of the emphasis off Captain Janeway, The Doctor managed to keep a rising number of episodes focused on him. The final one is “Renaissance Man.”

“Renaissance Man” is actually not a traditional Doctor episode. Instead, it is an episode similar in concept to “Warhead” (reviewed here!) where the Doctor’s program is corrupted and, like “Body And Soul” (reviewed here!) has other actors essentially playing The Doctor, though in this episode, the viewer quickly comes to understand that it is the Doctor who is portraying other characters!

Janeway is annoyed by the Doctor when they are on a mission in the Delta Flyer. When the Delta Flyer returns to Voyager, Janeway tells Chakotay that the Delta Flyer encountered a vastly superior alien race that they almost did not escape from. Somewhat irritated, Janeway tells Chakotay that Voyager will be surrendering to the alien armada and setting down on a Class M planet after ejecting their warp core. Facing the real possibility of the crew being stranded on a planet in the Delta Quadrant and Janeway acting twitchy, Chakotay asks the Doctor how Janeway behaved after her interrogation by the violent aliens.

The truth is revealed to the viewer quickly enough; Janeway is not herself. Instead, she is The Doctor, having managed to reprogram his holo-emitter to appear to be the Doctor. Janeway has been abducted by aliens and to get Janeway back, the Doctor must impersonate Chakotay, Torres, and Kim to meet the demands of the captors and get Janeway back safely.

“Renaissance Man” is interesting, but it is essentially a remix of “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy” (reviewed here!) where instead of simply seeing through his eyes, an alien race compels The Doctor to impersonate others. Unlike “Body And Soul,” where Jeri Ryan had the chance to really impersonate the Doctor and recreate Robert Picardo’s performance, the only actor who really has the chance to “play Picardo” is Roxann Dawson. When “Torres” encounters Paris in Engineering, the Doctor is squeamish about what Paris wants to feed her and Roxann Dawson gets to bug out her eyes and pretend to be The Doctor.

The rest of the actors pretty much play their traditional characters, even when it is The Doctor in altered form playing those characters.

“Renaissance Man” has plot and character aspects that require a level of suspension of disbelief that is far too extreme for me. First, in this episode, we see stasis pods in use. It seems strange to me that Voyager, if it had functional stasis beds still, would not have minimized the risk to the crew by using the stasis tubes and keeping only a skeleton crew awake.

But the big thing for me is that one of the more idiotic races in the Star Trek universe not only extorts The Doctor, but gets him to successfully take command of Voyager. It seems like the commands for the ECH would have been designed to prevent exactly that type of co-opting. Moreover, the crew’s inability to find and neutralize the Doctor fast seemed particularly incompetent. As well, the Doctor’s safety protocols and medical subroutines should have come into conflict with the demands of the aliens. In using sedatives on crewmembers seems like they could have risked his life and violated the medical ethics of “do no harm.”

Finally, in the wake of so many episodes where the Doctor’s program has been corrupted, it seems like there should have been a failsafe to prevent exactly this type of self-modification.

“Renaissance Man” does not have any particularly extraordinary performances from either the main cast or the guest actors. The net result is a fair episode, but not a particularly incredible one.

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

4.5/10

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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The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Voyager!

| | | The Basics: Star Trek: Voyager may never have had a perfect episode, but these are the ten episodes that were the best the show produced!


As my reviews of Star Trek: Voyager come to an end, I am happy to compile the Best and Worst lists that my readers have, historically, enjoyed. Already, I have compiled the Worst Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Voyager (that’s here!) and I was somewhat surprised that there were more second season episodes in that list than there were episodes from the fourth season and beyond (which is generally where I feel Star Trek: Voyager and the Star Trek franchise went off course). It is now time for the flipside, the ten best episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.

It is worth noting that Star Trek: Voyager, in my rating system, never had a perfect episode. These episodes were the highest rated using my objective rating system and it is also worth noting that many fan favorite episodes do not appear on this list for a very simple reason: I am not impressed by special effects. Special effects account for only one point out of ten in my rating system, so the primarily special effects-driven episodes that are very popular with many of the fans may not score as high with me because so many of those episodes lack the distinctive or interesting plots, the genuine character development, or remarkable acting one might hope for. Many episodes of Star Trek: Voyager - even some that I emotionally enjoy – did not score that high because the enjoyable aspect was the dazzle and effect aspect, as opposed to anything genuinely, qualitatively good.

I also wanted to note that “Phage” (reviewed here!) and “Faces” (reviewed here!) were near-misses to make this list. For all of my issues with Star Trek: Voyager and the way the series completely undermined the menace of the Borg and the Q, they created a truly frightening and wonderful villain with the Vidiians. The Vidiians were scary and interesting and consistently well-executed. It is a shame that they can never again be Star Trek villains (or at least, not with the same menace, punch, and desperation). For what it is worth, emotionally, I was somewhat surprised that “Distant Origin” (reviewed here!) also got muscled out of the Top 10!

What might be most surprising about this list of the Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Voyager is how many of the episodes were first and second season episodes. I attribute this to the fact that, for those looking for a series with substance, Star Trek: Voyager was a great example of the law of diminishing returns. The show had so much potential and it mortgaged it with each passing season. Even so, there were some pleasant surprises for me as I considered the series as a whole. So, without much fanfare, here are the best ten episodes of Star Trek: Voyager!

10. “Human Error” (reviewed here!) – The last great surprise episode of the series, “Human Error” is bound to be a surprise to those who read my many reviews because it is a Seven Of Nine episode. Not only is “Human Error” an unabashed Seven Of Nine episode, it is derivative of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Hollow Pursuits.” And yet, when Seven Of Nine creates a second life inside the holodeck, the writers smartly steer away from the novelty of the holodeck-altered characters and keep the episode focused on Seven Of Nine’s character struggle. The result is a silent quest for deeper emotions from a woman who is struggling with what it might mean to be human again and the episode works amazingly well. It comes at a time when Seven Of Nine can reasonably expected to be coming out of her shell and overcoming her Borg programming and it works incredibly well for that! This is, arguably, Jeri Ryan’s best performance of Seven Of Nine as well,

9. “Equinox” (reviewed here!) – It might have an utterly preposterous premise – that the Caretaker abducted a second StarFleet vessel (it is never made explicit what genetically-different crewmembers the Equinox might have had compared to Voyager and that is problematic) that has been taking a different route home through the Delta Quadrant – but once one accepts that, “Equinox” becomes a very dark exploration of what Voyager could have been. Battered, demoralized, and operating on a skeleton crew, Captain Ransom’s U.S.S. Equinox has not stuck to Federation morals and the results are monstrous. This was the best season finale Star Trek: Voyager produced and the only one that made me truly hunger for the season that followed it,

8. “Ashes To Ashes” (reviewed here!) – Not at all a “token Kim” episode, “Ashes To Ashes” is legitimately wonderful. An alien race that reproduces by genetically reprogramming corpses recovered a Voyager crewmember and she starts recalling her initial identity and catches up to Voyager. This intriguing premise leads to Harry Kim having one of his more successful romantic relationships and one of the few that the viewer can really emotionally invest in. However, being that it is Kim . . . Still a wonderful character episode,

7. “Projections” (reviewed here!) – A very typical Brannon Braga plot finds the Doctor having an identity crisis when he is told that he is actually a flesh and blood human being who is having a mental breakdown on the Jupiter Station. It might not be a deep character study, but Robert Picardo’s performance makes it easy to invest in the “what is real and what is not?” episode,

6. “Lifesigns” (reviewed here!) – The only (primarily) Vidiian episode to make the list, “Lifesigns” is not an action or horror episode, instead, it is a quiet character study that gives the Doctor his first romantic encounter . . . with a brilliant Vidiian doctor who is suffering from advanced stages of the Phage and whom the Doctor must make a holographic body for. One of the few episodes that wrestles with the consequences of prior episodes, “Lifesigns” gives B’Elanna Torres a great secondary character conflict when her genetic material might help the Doctor and Dr. Pel, but her past experiences with the Vidiians leaves her unwilling to donate her tissue. Brilliant and fun,

5. “Mortal Coil” (reviewed here!) – Neelix has a crisis of faith after dying and goes to the brink of utter desolation. Enough said,

4. “Jetrel” (reviewed here!) – The first powerhouse performance by Ethan Philips, “Jetrel” fills in the backstory of Neelix and sets up the most-alluded to single event (outside Voyager’s abduction by the Caretaker) in the series. In this episode, we learn that Neelix’s home world was attacked and the planet’s moon was utterly devastated by a terrible weapon. The episode has a compelling build-up to the revelation of Neelix’s part in the war for his planet and it is balanced by the story of a scientist motivated by his own powerful sense of guilt trying desperately to make up for his wrongs. This is one of James Sloyan’s best supporting performances and a knock-‘em-out-of-the-park performance by Ethan Philips,

3. “Heroes And Demons” (reviewed here!) – The first episode to give the Doctor an away mission of his own, “Heroes And Demons” has the EMH in Beowulf and the episode is funny, clever, and filled with menace. Not simply a holodeck adventure story, the episode realistically explores the psychological consequences for what is essentially an agoraphobic being thrown out into a very big world. On screen, Robert Picardo and Marjorie Monahan (Freya) have great chemistry that makes the romantic and tragic aspects of the episode work wonderfully,

2. “Caretaker” (reviewed here!) – The best of the Star Trek franchise pilots, it is telling that the show started high that its pilot made it to #2! The characters are introduced in interesting and compelling ways, the performances are not as clunky as on the other pilot episodes and the production crews were refined enough to shoot a pilot that did not look like a pilot. “Caretaker” has a Maquis vessel disappearing in a dangerous area of space and Captain Kathryn Janeway conscripting an arrogant pilot with a troubled past to help find it. But, the simple recovery mission starts an epic journey when both ships are abducted by a powerful alien 70,000 light years from the Badlands. “Caretaker” is well-plotted and makes one enthusiastic to start the journey of Voyager, which is exactly what a first episode ought to do,


and finally . . .

. . . against all odds or bets . . .

1. “Resolutions” (reviewed here!) – What many people might have seen as a throwaway bottle episode became its finest episode. When the Doctor is unable to treat Chakotay and Janeway of (of all things!) an insect bite, the two senior officers make the difficult decision to stay behind and Voyager, under the command of Tuvok heads for home. “Resolutions” is a tight character episode, exploring both Janeway’s desperate search for a cure on the planet, contrasted with Chakotay’s easy acceptance of life outside a command structure and Tuvok’s rocky command as Harry Kim makes constant appeals for the new captain to negotiate with the Vidiians for a cure for Janeway. The acting is top-notch, the characters are exceptionally explored and the plot is surprisingly engaging. If only it didn’t waste so much time with the damn monkey . . . this is the must-see episode of the series, but best appreciated by those invested in the characters.

For other “Best Of” lists, please check out my lists of:
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek
The Best Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
The Top Ten Episodes Of Frasier

For other television reviews, please visit my Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Worst Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Voyager!

| | | The Basics: What started out with so much potential quickly sank in the saga of Star Trek: Voyager: here are the episodes that can be safely avoided.


As I near completion of my reviews of Star Trek: Voyager, I find myself wistfully looking back at the series. And, as my readers have come to expect, I am now happily able to reveal my list of the Worst 10 Episodes of the series! I was actually surprised, when compiling this list, to discover that while Star Trek: Voyager had more consistently low-rated episodes (all of these episodes have a lower rating than the series rating for Star Trek: The Animated Adventures!), Star Trek: The Next Generation actually had more episodes that hit the lowest possible ratings (and are fairly painful to watch).

It is worth noting that the usually-despised episode “Threshold” (reviewed here!) does not make the list. For all the problems most people had with the special effects, I think it’s a great performance by Robert Duncan McNeill, the concept is good, and the episode actually tries to make a plot-based technology problem into a character episode that explores Paris’s feelings of inadequacy. And it lives up on that front.

So, without fanfare, here are the bottom ten episodes of Star Trek: Voyager!

10. “The Fight” (reviewed here!) – I can’t think of an episode in the Star Trek franchise that, when it was finished, I sat and said to myself, “What the hell was it I just watched?!” like “The Fight.” Chakotay has to train for a fight as a method of communication with an alien race and the idea seems needlessly complicated and ill-executed. Sure, it’s an excuse for Ray Walston to show back up one final time as Boothby, but it pretty much undermines his legacy when the DVD bonus features for the episode have actors talking about how far gone he was when working on the episode (and the episode that preceded it with him). “The Fight” is just a mess and I would not be surprised if Robert Beltran left it off his filmography whenever he had the chance,

9. “Resistance” (reviewed here!) – Honestly, the last time I watched the episode, I liked it a bit better than I ever had before, but this episode is a sad excuse to have Janeway use her feminine wiles (even momentarily) to accomplish a goal. The plotting is obvious and for all of Joel Gray’s wonderful performance abilities, the episode is gutted by obvious direction that telegraphs the ultimate demise of his character. And, oh yeah, because their plight is treated like something of an afterthought, Tuvok is so completely un-Vulcan in the episode and the experience never seems to have any ramifications on either Tuvok or Torres! And I write all that having enjoyed the bulk of books written by the episode’s writer, Michael Jan Friedman,

8. “Repression” (reviewed here!) – It speaks poorly of an episode when, a month after watching it and writing about it, it was so unmemorable that I had to go back and read my own review to even remember what the episode was. “Repression” is terrible, is what it is! Voyager, apparently, has no anti-viral software and a message gets through that reprograms the most obvious person possible, to start incapacitating former Maquis members . . . because of something that once happened long ago and blah de blah blah blah. I couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm for writing about it the first time, I’m not wasting more time on it here,

7. “Innocence” (reviewed here!) – The real idiocy of “Innocence,” an episode that tries to make Tuvok dealing with three (apparent) children into an awkward situation for him is that Tuvok is the first Star Trek franchise character who begins the series with adult children. So, of all the characters in the entire Star Trek pantheon, the one best equipped to deal with children effectively and in an unruffled manner is Tuvok. But then, the kids aren’t kids and the “reversal” is something so unclever, it could have been an episode of the Star Trek: Animated Series,

6. “Learning Curve” (reviewed here!) - Star Trek: Voyager apparently did not particularly want a second season, because they left four decent episodes in the can and ended the first season with an episode that had Tuvok, a former Academy instructor, struggling with basic education principles when teaching members of the Maquis how to serve aboard Voyager. And the villain is . . . cheese. Seriously, not “cheesy,” the villain in “Learning Curve” is cheese. That would be fine; I can suspend my disbelief to believe that Voyager and its experimental bio-neural gel packs could get an infection. I fail to believe, though, that Voyager is so poorly designed that the air vent from Neelix’s kitchen would lead to open circuitry where the cheese could ever be exposed to a bio-neural gel pack,

5. “Fair Haven” (reviewed here!) – Filled with terrible Irish stereotypes and the most underwhelming sense of menace for any Holodeck episode in the Star Trek franchise, what really sinks “Fair Haven” is the casting. Janeway (and Kate Mulgrew) had more sexual chemistry with the guy from her governess holonovel in the second season than she did with Michael the bartender (Fintan McKeown),

4. “Nemesis” (reviewed here!) – Apparently, nothing good comes from naming something “Nemesis” in the Star Trek franchise. When Chakotay is brainwashed to be a soldier for an alien race, the only thing more annoying than the pretense that he might get killed on the planet is how the word “nemesis” is used almost every other line. The episode is a great example of how a good theme can be presented in an absolutely terrible way. And the make-up in the episode is just painfully lazy. The villains are clearly redressed Naussicans. Or Predators,

3. “Prototype” (reviewed here!) - Star Trek: Voyager went through something of a lull in its second season. When it came back from its hiatus, it was with an episode where Torres is abducted by robots. Things did not look good for the series. “Prototype” is one of those episodes that might have worked if it was ever put in context. B’Elanna Torres might be the most-abducted character on Voyager. “Prototype” was at least her fourth time she was abducted (she had been abducted and tortured in the prior episode, “Resistance!”) and she never developed a complex about leaving the ship. How Torres ever ended up trusting anyone or wanting to leave Engineering is a mystery to me. “Prototype” hinges on a false sense of emotional attachment that Torres has for a robot she helps repair and because that bond is not plausibly sold, the episode falls apart,

2. “Twisted” (reviewed here!) – Arguably the worst-conceived spatial anomaly-of-the-week episode, Voyager enters a distortion ring where everything gets stretched and skewed. The best part of the episode is the end; not that the episode ends, but rather that the solution to the problem is surprisingly original for the franchise. Beyond that, “Twisted” makes no sense unless the ship and crew are made of gummy candy. Metal snaps, plastic cracks and tears, nothing in the episode satisfactorily explains why Voyager does not hit the anomaly and get torn apart, as opposed to ridiculously warped around,

And . . .

. . . the worst of the bunch is . . .

1.“Spirit Folk” (reviewed here!)! Star Trek Voyager revisits the pathetic setting of “Fair Haven.” And, if that episode’s romantic subplot was poorly executed, its follow-up is even worse. Why? Michael’s faith hinges on the virtually gutted relationship he has with Janeway. But long, long before it gets to that point, “Spirit Folk” is an ugly mess of an episode with a double-helping of the Irish stereotyping that made “Fair Haven” so bad in the first place. The doctor is hypnotized, another hologram takes the mobile emitter, and the Holodeck safeties fail yet again. This episode features the bulk of the actors looking bored or walking around in a daze, like they realized while making the episode that they were involved with creating something preposterous.

For other “Worst Of” lists, please check out my lists of:
The Worst Ten Episodes Of Star Trek
The Worst Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Worst Ten Episodes Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Holographic Rights Movement Is Made Explicit In “Author, Author.”

The Good: Wonderful acting, Good themes
The Bad: Derivative plot, Spends far too much time belaboring the alternate story before getting to its actual story.
The Basics: “Author, Author” is more than just an advertisement for various Star Trek: Voyager books released at the time!


One of the aspects of Star Trek: Voyager I respect is how the show began to evolve when the writing staff changed. Very late in the series, the writers added a subplot to the show focused on the Emergency Medical Hologram and his inherent rights. The subplot is one that took a surprising amount of time to develop and is a longer-running metaphor for basic human rights that is likely to be familiar to fans of the Star Trek franchise. After all, it is essentially the same plot with the same stance that Star Trek: The Next Generation used to establish and continue expanding the rights of Lieutenant Commander Data. “Author, Author” is good, but it is no “The Measure Of The Man” (reviewed here!).

In fact, “Author, Author” belabors itself in an unfortunate way before actually getting to the serious issues at hand. Immediately reminiscent of “Living Witness” (reviewed here!) where Voyager’s crew is grossly misinterpreted by an alien race hundreds of years after their contact with the ship and the Doctor has to set them straight, “Author, Author” spends a great deal of time establishing a warped view of the Doctor’s narrative in Photons Be Free. While it is entertaining, it is overkill for the purpose of the story and understanding the themes of the episode, which would be better served with more debate in the episode.

Opening with the Emergency Medical Hologram finishing the prologue to his holonovel, Voyager gets the first trans-galactic message from Earth, thanks to new technology from Reginald Barclay, Harry Kim, and Seven Of Nine. With the potential of the new technology becoming a more stable thing, the crew lines up for lots for three minutes of communications time each with the Alpha Quadrant. Much of the crew is surprised when The Doctor uses his time to contact someone other than Reginald Barclay. His message goes to the publishers of the Dixon Hill novels where his own work has been accepted for publication or production. Broad & Forrester accept Photons Be Free and the Doctor allows Tom Paris to view the holonovel.

Paris is deeply offended by how the characters on the U.S.S. Vortex (Voyager in Photons Be Free) and he urges his peers to experience it. Neelix, Torres, Kim, and Janeway go through the story which has the EMH treated harshly, threatened constantly, and forced to wear a bulky holo-emitter backpack. Janeway, pissed off by the holonovel, calls the Doctor onto the carpet, who tries to defend his work. Somewhat oblivious to the plight of the holograms in the Alpha Quadrant, the crew gets a lesson when the Doctor’s work is published without his approval and he is uncompensated for his work.

“Author, Author” has one decent character understanding, which is that Janeway has never been in touch with the whole idea of holographic rights. Janeway is largely oblivious to the Doctor’s struggle and has, consistently, treated him like a tool as opposed to an individual in the past. Outside that, “Author, Author” is all over the map as far as character goes. Harry Kim has a single scene where he talks with his mother and is treated like a child. Similarly, B’Elanna Torres has a single scene where she contacts her father and Seven Of Nine slowly comes to desire a bond with someone back at home.

By the time “Author, Author” gets around to the actual hearing, the episode has gotten fairly far off track. In the last part of the episode, Tuvok gets a decent role as a legal arbitrator, Seven of Nine and Harry Kim begin to illustrate that the Doctor has grown. When the episode finally gets beyond the novelty of the actors playing variations on their regular roles, the episode becomes an intellectual argument that is exceptionally familiar. By the point that Janeway makes her impassioned remarks on behalf of the Doctor, the viewer has to wonder where this version of Janeway has been all along!

As usual, the acting in this episode of Star Trek: Voyager is good. The alternate versions of Janeway, Paris, Tuvok, Kim, and Seven Of Nine give the performers a lot of fun ways to play. While it is entertaining and all of the actors rise to the occasion, this is nothing we have not seen from most of them before (in “Living Witness,” for example).

While the character of the Doctor takes a wonderful stand in favor of holographic rights, it is disappointing that none of his shipmates immediately leap to his side. Torres especially has been consistently characterized as someone who does not care what others think of her and has had some empathy for the Doctor and his condition. “Author, Author” might have been more compelling on the character front had she actually seen the holonovel and championed the Doctor’s right to produce the book the way he saw fit, as opposed to disappearing after Paris makes his changes and the trial begins. That lack of character insight – which puts the Doctor against virtually the entire crew – makes “Author, Author” feel a bit more like “Virtuoso” (reviewed here!) on the character front and the episode has a fractured quality that makes it less overall satisfying to viewers who consider the episode in the larger context of the series.

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

6.5/10

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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Exit Q, Inconsequentially, With “Q2”

The Good: Most of the acting, Moments of humor
The Bad: Very predictable plot, No lasting character development or plot progression.
The Basics: Janeway asks for nothing in exchange for taking care of the younger Q in “Q2.”


I respect shows that, as they know they are nearing an end, attempt to patch up loose ends, especially if they are a spin-off already and know that the next spin-off will not allow for the opportunity to revisit the dangling plot threads. Q, who was hardly a recurring character on Star Trek: Voyager with “Death Wish” (reviewed here!) and “The Q And The Grey” (reviewed here!), returned as the series was winding down in “Q2.” The producers of the Star Trek franchise knew that the next series was going to be a prequel at this point, so “Q2” wrote the Q-Continuum out and it is an unfortunate exit for the once-omnipotent species.

“Q2” sees the brief return of Q and the prolonged return of Q’s son, Q. It is, essentially, a recasting of “Deja Q” (reviewed here!). The younger Q is put in the same position that Q was put in in that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. While it is initially humorous, it is yet another degradation in the original concept of the Q, though its familiar aspects do remind the viewer of how good the Star Trek franchise had been.

After Icheb delivers a long report on early StarFleet history, the young Q appears on Voyager, followed by Q. Q (the elder) quickly abandons the young teenager Q on Voyager. There, Q throws a party in Engineering, removes Neelix’s vocal chords, and provokes the Borg to chase Voyager and almost destroy it and its crew. Rescued at the last minute by the elder Q, Janeway tries to convince Q to pay attention to his son and discipline the boy. After only ten minutes of attempting to give his son order, Q surrenders.

After punishing the young Q by keeping him as an amoeba, Q restores his son and tells him he has one week to shape up or face eternity as a single-celled organism. His powers removed, the young Q is given tasks on the ship to accomplish, including a diplomatic simulation, cooking in the mess hall and learning consequences with Icheb and Seven Of Nine. Icheb does his best to befriend Q and in the process, the young Q learns compassion.

“Q2” is really just “Deja Q” recast, which makes fans of the franchise severely underwhelmed by the episode. The episode has its moments, though the humor of Q bellowing not to provoke the Borg and Q begging Janeway never quite rise to the level of humor of Worf suggesting Q die or Guinan stabbing Q in the hand with a fork. When the episode is not trying to be funny, it unfortunately fails to be original.

The main function of Q, senior, in the episode is to provide a sense of originality for the character and a stark contrast to the (mostly) human characters in the Star Trek franchise. Q, rather smartly, is surprisingly indifferent to being a parent and has no real fraternal drive. For a race that has never had children, this is a surprisingly insightful character trait and it makes sense for the always arrogant Q.

Unfortunately, Q – the younger – not only learns the same lesson Q learned in “Deja Q,” he does it in almost the same way. Q, apparently, have a penchant for running away.

Keegan de Lancie plays the younger Q and perhaps his most interesting moments of performance come when he is playing opposite his father, John de Lancie. At the outset of the episode, the de Lancie’s perfectly embody what is expected of the Q and it sets a high bar for the episode. Unfortunately, Keegan de Lancie continues to play the younger Q as an annoying, arrogant teenager with no flair or hint of the power his character had at the beginning of the episode. Manu Intiraymi plays Icheb as fairly stiff through much of the episode. The performance regresses Icheb and it is an unfortunate portrayal of the character. It is ironic because on his own and in one of the first scenes where Keegan de Lancie and Intiraymi play off one another, they have decent banter and on-screen chemistry. That fades, though, as the episode goes on.

“Q2” further undermines the character of Captain Janeway, though. When the Chakuzan Captain tells Janeway that she will bear the consequences of Q’s actions, she looks horrified instead . . . well, willing to take responsibility. That is unfortunate. The lack of originality of “Q2” is all that remains unfortunate for the episode.

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

For the other episodes in the Q Saga, check out my reviews of:
“Encounter At Farpoint”
“Hide And Q”
“Q-Who?”
“QPid”
“True Q”
“Q-Less”
“Tapestry”
“All Good Things . . .”

4/10

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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The Rescue Of The Voyager Crew From The Soap Opera Of The First Part Is “Workforce, Part II”

The Good: Character progression, Moments of performance
The Bad: Continued lame special effects, Very predictable plot progression
The Basics: “Workforce, Part II” resolves the plot of the first part, which has the Voyager crew trapped without their memories on an alien world.


As I sit watching the second part of the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Workforce,” it occurs to me that if the subsequent spin-off in the Star Trek franchise had not been a prequel, this two-parter would have been the perfect time to introduce the new crew. For sure, it would have been anti-climactic for Star Trek: Voyager to have Voyager’s crew rescued from an outside source, but it would have made the threat much more real if the captured crew did not have the means to get out of their current predicament.

“Workforce, Part II” is a direct sequel to “Workforce” (reviewed here!), which works more to explore the characters as they struggle through their dilemma, unaware of who they are supposed to be. “Workforce, Part II” has some refreshing play for the characters viewers are familiar with by this point in the series, but it suffers from a fundamental problem that stretches suspension of disbelief far beyond what viewers can actually accept. “Workforce, Part II” hinges on the idea that it is at all possible for Voyager’s crew to be lost, trapped on a planet where they have no memory of who they actually are. Because it does not take an even remotely sophisticated sensibility to know that there is no way this is going to be the end of the series, the predictability of the plot virtually writes itself. Fortunately, the only wrinkle in the predictable nature of the plot progression is a decent character development - a romantic relationship for Janeway that is actually one of the most compelling ones of the series.

Picking up where the first part ended, with Tuvok freaking out and a disguised Chakotay fleeing for his life, awaiting transport off the Quarren work world, Voyager manages to recover Torres, but not Chakotay. Chakotay is wounded and he meets with Janeway and learns that she is moving in with Jaffen. With Annika Hansen becoming suspicious that Tuvok may not actually be ill and that his assertion that he does not belong there, Janeway’s attempt to help Chakotay runs into conflict with her budding relationship with Jaffen. As Torres responds to treatment from the Doctor and Neelix, Voyager avoids capture by setting down on a small moon.

When Jaffen turns on Janeway and Chakotay, Chakotay gets an unlikely ally in Inspector Yerid, the detective who has been hunting him for his collusion in the abduction of B’Elanna Torres. As Yerid follows the clues, he becomes troubled by how the society he is a police officer for has been utilizing personnel. When his medical counterpart begins asking questions, Dr. Kadan is exposed for the social engineer he is. Both men find the methods barbaric and aid the Voyager crew is escaping the planet.

The acting in “Workforce, Part II” is a tribute to Roxann Dawson as both a director and an actor. She and Ethan Philips play off one another amazingly well in a quiet scene in the mess hall where Torres tries to recall being married with Tom. That scene is followed by a wonderful moment where Garrett Wang and Robert Picardo have a meaningful exchange that gives decent insight into Picardo as the ECH. Even Jeri Ryan is convincing when she has to play Hansen involved in a covert operation to infiltrate the neuropathology unit and get information on the truth of what is happening to the crew.

The guest performers shine in “Workforce, Part II.” Don Most is cold and deliciously evil as Kadan. Robert Joy, who plays Yerid, is smart and methodical and the role is one of the best guest roles I have seen him in. Jay Harrington gives an intriguing performance that is emotive and rational (this is the first thing I have actually seen him in) that makes him truly stand out; it is easy to see how he got such a good career after this!

“Workforce, Part II” is a very satisfying conclusion to the story of Voyager’s captured crew and it is one of the rare examples of a second part of a two-part episode being superior to the first.

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

7/10

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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Another Opportunity For The Actors On Star Trek: Voyager To Play Outside Their Characters Comes In “Workforce!”

The Good: Interesting plot and concept, Fine acting
The Bad: Minor special effects issues, No real character insights, Very inconsistent conceit
The Basics: The crew of Voyager is taken hostage by aliens who need the personnel for their “Workforce.”


Like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager did not have any episodes that were set in the Mirror Universe or involved any crossovers with that setting. While Star Trek: The Next Generation got around that wrinkle by providing numerous holodeck episodes that allowed the actors to stretch their wings and display other aspects of their talents. On Star Trek: Voyager, the crew had numerous episodes where their sense of identity was compromised, usually in two-parters, like “The Killing Game” (reviewed here!) and “The Killing Game, Part 2” (reviewed here!). The last episode where the performers had a chance to play outside the bounds of their characters is “Workforce.”

“Workforce” does not thoroughly upend the characters – Tuvok laughs and jokes, but Janeway still loves to cook – and that is part of the problem with the episode. The episode is not riddled with problems, but some issues stand out, none more than the fact that the identity-erasing conceit of the episode is very erratically applied. Annika Hansen (Seven Of Nine) is essentially a Borg, Paris is a quarrelsome loner, but Tuvok is stiff and while he initially laughs, he quickly reverts to logic and order (even before the medication slips). That said, “Workforce” has a lot going for it.

On an alien world, an excited Janeway, out of uniform, takes a lift down several levels to try to find a supervisor. She is assigned to monitoring a thermal readout and she takes to the job with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm. Janeway is rescued from embarrassment and an overload by Jaffen, who keeps her from the new efficiency expert, Annika Hansen. Paris, meanwhile, is struggling to find work in a local bar. As Janeway and Jaffen get closer, Janeway learns that as part of the compensation package, she is given inoculations against radiation, an injection that Tuvok seems to dread.

Returning from a trade mission, Chakotay, Kim, and Neelix come upon Voyager stuck at the outskirts of a nebula. There, the Emergency Command Hologram has been working desperately to get Voyager back up and running. He tells Chakotay about how the ship hit a mine and was flooded with radiation shortly after the team left. With the crew forced to abandon ship and command turned over to the ECH, commands Voyager through an attack. Working to get Voyager operational again, the Away Team searches for its lost crew. With the Doctor surgically altering Chakotay, Kim and the ECH are left on Voyager while Neelix and Chakotay try to unravel the mystery of the local labor shortage and discover what has happened to their crews.

The return of the ECH, a peripheral plot point in “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy” (reviewed here!) is a welcome one. It is almost shocking that perceptive writers Kenneth Biller and Bryan Fuller can recall the concept of the ECH to utilize, but sloppily have Ensign Kim declaring that his encounter on the Away Mission (which is basically the worst case of a stomach ache he has had) was the worst he has ever had when he was attacked and almost killed by Species 8472. Similarly, Chakotay reacts to seeing Janeway as second season Chakotay might, which is off because his character’s memory is never wiped.

Unlike most of the other episodes of Star Trek: Voyager where the characters are given identity issues, “Workforce” does not give any of the actors a real chance to shine. Kate Mulgrew plays the brainwiped Janeway much the way she played Janeway outside the command structure in “Resolutions” (reviewed here!) and by this point in the series, we have seen Tim Russ play Tuvok conflicted and struggling to get himself under control at least half a dozen times, so he gives us nothing new either. In fact, more than any other identity change episode, “Workforce” gives the viewer nothing new for the actors and no real character insights. The acting is not bad, it is just not at all surprising; no one is stretching their abilities at all.

The special effects, though, are another matter. The opening shot of “Workforce” has very obvious computer generated effects for the city and monorail. For some reason, the way the elevated train moved in the teaser instantly set me off; I knew I was looking at a virtual construct. On HD televisions, this episode may show its age more than others. Also particularly problematic is that the ship the ECH defends Voyager from is a Breen ship! It’s a distinctive ship and particularly sloppy of the producers to reuse the vessel.

Despite the minor issues, “Workforce” is an engaging first part and it intrigues the viewer enough to look forward to how the dilemma will be resolved when it ends in a pretty obvious cliffhanger.

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

6/10

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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