VOY: Blink of an Eye

         Looking back I don't think I watched Fair Haven, if I saw the preview I can guess why. Which is too bad, I would have really liked Blink of an Eye I suspect, I certainly liked it this time. I don't know if they got the physics exactly right, but time speed differentials are the only form of time travel that seems entirely likely given our current understanding of how the universe works so it is cool to see it played with here. It didn't hurt that the story was well told both from the planets surface looking up at Voyager and from the ship as they gradually figured out what was going on below. 
         We open with Voyager encountering a strange planet spinning 58 times per minute and when they approach they are trapped in some sort of gravity thing which also knocks out their engines. Cut to the surface of the planet where a primitive man is making offerings to an alter. As soon as he places a red fruit on the stone the ground shakes and a bright star suddenly appears in the sky over him. He starts a new religion based on the star in the sky. His elders don't approve but do help him try to send a message asking why the new sky god is causing quakes. Back on the ship they are aware that there is a civilization developing on the planet below, but it is going at a radically different pace than they are. Every minute on Voyager is 58 days on the planet below. They try sending a probe to look for a way to escape but it doesn't seem to work.
         On the planet industrial revolution era astronomers are pointing a telescope at Voyager which they call the Sky Ship. It is an cultural obsession for them and they are trying to send radio communications to Voyager. In astrometrics Seven detects the transmission and is able to slow it down. It is a plea to stop causing quakes on the planet. Janeway decides to send the Doctor down to trying to find a way to escape and he ends up spending 3 years on the surface and somehow fathers a child. Cut to some astronauts from the planet flying to Voyager. They manage to dock but are not in the right time speed so everyone on Voyager appears to be going super slow, until they collapse and shift to our time. One of them is killed but the survivor is super excited to be on the Sky Ship. But then they are under attack, his people have developed warp weapons so he heads down to talk his people into not destroying Voyager. Just as their shields fall the attacks stop and two craft appear which tow Voyager out of the gravity well. The astronaut appears as a projection to say good bye and we cut to the surface where the light in the sky finally disappears.

         Review: This is the kind of thing Trek is supposed to be all about. The prime directive, actual science fiction, and a good story make this a truly classic episode.

9 out of 10