About half way into this episode I started to get worried that it was going to be as straightforward as it looked and therefore also hella boring. I also liked that Seven was really worried and it turned out she was right, but for totally wrong reasons. Also enjoyed a look into what it is like to live in a society on the edge of Borg space where even if you survive the initial attack you will be harassed for ever until either they assimilate all of you or you find a way to fight back. And as much as Seven and Janeway were upset about Icheb being used to kill Borg, his parents do have a point that without space weapons they lack any other way to fight back. Still a pretty brutal thing for a society to do though.
We open at a science fair on the ship with Janeway looking at the projects admiringly. She is especially impressed with the oldest ex-Borg boy Icheb. He has become very interested in astrophysics and has been working in astrometrics with Seven a lot. Janeway pulls Seven aside and tells her they have located Icheb's parents and it is time for him to go home which Seven resists, but also agrees to be the one to tell him. She stalls for a while but eventually delivers the news which is devastating to Icheb. It gets worse when he learns he comes from an agricultural society without starships and with very limited technology. The captain gives him no choice though and he beams down to meet his parents. They don't get along at all and before long Icheb returns to the ship.
His parents are naturally devastated themselves and head up to Voyager to meet with Janeway. She encourages them to meet with him on the ship since he is more comfortable there. They plan a dinner for him while he talks with the other ex-Borg kids. They are all jealous that he gets to meet his parents but he is not so sure. At dinner he refuses to engage at first but after trying some food he opens up. The next day he heads down to the planet and spends time with his dad. He learns that while his people don't have space technology, they are very advanced at genetic engineering. That night he brings down a regeneration unit and spends the night with his parents.
Seven is very upset since she is worried the Borg will return and reassimilate him. Janeway tells her to stand down though but as she prepares to regenerate the ex-Borg girl tells her that the story about Icheb being assimilated wasn't true. Instead of being captured on the surface he was taken in a spacecraft. Seven investigates further and finally wakes Janeway. On the planet his parents are having a tearful conversation. The dad doesn't want to do what they have planned by the mom is dead set. When Icheb returns they tell him he is going back to the Borg and sedate him. Voyager returns after they have launched Icheb's craft. They get to him just in time but a Borg sphere arrives and they have to detonate a torpedo in Icheb's ship to escape. The Doctor finds that Icheb was genetically modified to produce the pathogen that destroyed the cube he was on and his parents were sending him back to do more damage.
Review: An episode with actual ethical quandaries? Actual plot twists that aren't super obvious from the opening? Actually interesting Borg stories? Looks like they managed to sneak a decent one in among the increasingly disappointing sixth season.
6 out of 10
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Thursday, November 3, 2016
VOY: Ashes to Ashes
This episode might have worked if Ensign Ballard had actually been a character with past with Harry Kim. But we have followed Harry pretty closely during the last few years and there was no sign of a girl he was in love with living across the hallway from him. When they had the episode on earth with Harry and his presumably ex-girlfriend it was fine since she was from his life before being stranded, but the events being referred to in this episode all theoretically took place during the events of the series. Also the subplot of Seven trying to be a mother to a bunch of drones is dumb. I hate Neelix, and he would be a way better parent than her.
We open with an alien in a shuttle fleeing from a larger ship which it disables and then calls Voyager. On Voyager one of the Borg children answers the call and then accidentally hangs up on the lady. Tuvok walks in and is pissed that the Borg girl was messing with the coms and he is clearly right. Seven comes back and explains that it is cool, the kids weren't alone that long. After a few minutes they finally learn of the stranded lady. It turns out she is a member of the crew who we have never seen before but was maybe in love with Kim. Well, he was in love with her apparently. She died and some aliens brought her back to life and turned her into one of them which is how they reproduce which makes literally no sense. She tries to fit in but discovers she is too alien now. Seven continues to be a terrible parent. The dead ladies also former dead family show up and demand her back. She says she doesn't want to go but then decides she does after they shoot at Voyager. Kim has a hard time saying good bye the end.
Review: What a boring episode that fails in a bunch of ways. Having aliens reproduce by reanimating corpses is trying too hard to be edgy scifi if you ask me. And making Seven be a mom is just dumb.
2 out of 10
We open with an alien in a shuttle fleeing from a larger ship which it disables and then calls Voyager. On Voyager one of the Borg children answers the call and then accidentally hangs up on the lady. Tuvok walks in and is pissed that the Borg girl was messing with the coms and he is clearly right. Seven comes back and explains that it is cool, the kids weren't alone that long. After a few minutes they finally learn of the stranded lady. It turns out she is a member of the crew who we have never seen before but was maybe in love with Kim. Well, he was in love with her apparently. She died and some aliens brought her back to life and turned her into one of them which is how they reproduce which makes literally no sense. She tries to fit in but discovers she is too alien now. Seven continues to be a terrible parent. The dead ladies also former dead family show up and demand her back. She says she doesn't want to go but then decides she does after they shoot at Voyager. Kim has a hard time saying good bye the end.
Review: What a boring episode that fails in a bunch of ways. Having aliens reproduce by reanimating corpses is trying too hard to be edgy scifi if you ask me. And making Seven be a mom is just dumb.
2 out of 10
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
VOY: Spirit Folk
So I guess if you make a program about an Irish village of course they are going to get superstitious and decide that the crew are evil witches or something. Also, if you want to make tension on the holodeck by having the safeties turned off, maybe don't have a gun on the holodeck be the thing that turns the safeties off. Because you see, while the safeties are on you shouldn't be able to damage a non-holographic wall panel with a holographic gun, but apparently that is how it works now. This is a pretty bland holodeck gone wrong episode and that's really all there is to say.
We open with Tom crashing a car on Fair Haven and then fixing it with a command to the holodeck but for some reason some of the characters notice. The villagers start freaking out that the crew of Voyager are actually the titular spirit folk and start following the crew around. Paris pranks Harry by turning his date into a cow which certainly looks bad so the townsfolk gather in the church to discuss the matter. Pretty much all of the crew are known since they tend to not worry about holocharacters watching them. They storm the bar with guns and find Harry and Tom working on an access panel and end up shooting he panel which deactivates the safeties and allows them to be taken hostage. They send the Doctor in but he is captured too and apparently can be hypnotized which lets them get information from him. Sullivan, Janeway's boyfriend, volunteers to go to this Voyager and does with the mobile emitter. Janeway realizes she has to give him the truth which he accepts and then talks the towns people into accepting. They all make up the end.
Review: The only tension they could find in this episode was pretty badly manufactured and didn't really work for me.
3 out of 10
We open with Tom crashing a car on Fair Haven and then fixing it with a command to the holodeck but for some reason some of the characters notice. The villagers start freaking out that the crew of Voyager are actually the titular spirit folk and start following the crew around. Paris pranks Harry by turning his date into a cow which certainly looks bad so the townsfolk gather in the church to discuss the matter. Pretty much all of the crew are known since they tend to not worry about holocharacters watching them. They storm the bar with guns and find Harry and Tom working on an access panel and end up shooting he panel which deactivates the safeties and allows them to be taken hostage. They send the Doctor in but he is captured too and apparently can be hypnotized which lets them get information from him. Sullivan, Janeway's boyfriend, volunteers to go to this Voyager and does with the mobile emitter. Janeway realizes she has to give him the truth which he accepts and then talks the towns people into accepting. They all make up the end.
Review: The only tension they could find in this episode was pretty badly manufactured and didn't really work for me.
3 out of 10
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
VOY: Collective
An episode about irritable teenage Borg? Yeah, no thanks. The drone in charge of the children on the cube is a really Kylo Renn type who likes it make unreasonable demands and throw temper tantrums. I got kinda bored so I missed why they thought it was reasonable to demand the deflector dish from Voyager, but that was clearly never going to happen. The reduction of the Borg into almost comic villain in Voyager is one of the things that I think fans are right to criticize them for and this episode is a big part of that.
We open with the crew of the Flyer, Chakotay, Paris, Kim and Neelix, playing poker until they are interrupted by a Borg cube. They flee and the cube is clearly not working well, but as they make their escape it grabs them with a tractor beam and they are brought aboard. But something seems strange, they wake up very much not assimilated and Kim is missing. Back on Voyager they are tracking the missing Flyer and detect the cube. They track it down and are attacked, but very ineffectively they discover that there are only a handful of drones and the away team has yet to be assimilated. They are contacted by the cube and after he usual threats the Borg offer the away team in exchange for Voyager deflector. Janeway stalls and asks to send some one over, of course she sends Seven.
She discovers that the only drones on the ship are kids. All the adults were killed and they were released from their pods early to try and run the ship. I am going to summarize a bit extra here since the middle is pretty dull. Harry is on board and tries to plant charges or something. The leader of the Borg is irritating and keeps saying he won't negotiate and then negotiating. Janeway has a virus to kill Borg designed and put in place, but never uses it so that is a red herring. In the end they just overload the Borg shields and beam everybody off the end.
Review: This episode was pretty irritating and never really went anywhere. Stuff was set up and never paid off in any way. Also, weak Borg make a weak episode.
2 out of 10
We open with the crew of the Flyer, Chakotay, Paris, Kim and Neelix, playing poker until they are interrupted by a Borg cube. They flee and the cube is clearly not working well, but as they make their escape it grabs them with a tractor beam and they are brought aboard. But something seems strange, they wake up very much not assimilated and Kim is missing. Back on Voyager they are tracking the missing Flyer and detect the cube. They track it down and are attacked, but very ineffectively they discover that there are only a handful of drones and the away team has yet to be assimilated. They are contacted by the cube and after he usual threats the Borg offer the away team in exchange for Voyager deflector. Janeway stalls and asks to send some one over, of course she sends Seven.
She discovers that the only drones on the ship are kids. All the adults were killed and they were released from their pods early to try and run the ship. I am going to summarize a bit extra here since the middle is pretty dull. Harry is on board and tries to plant charges or something. The leader of the Borg is irritating and keeps saying he won't negotiate and then negotiating. Janeway has a virus to kill Borg designed and put in place, but never uses it so that is a red herring. In the end they just overload the Borg shields and beam everybody off the end.
Review: This episode was pretty irritating and never really went anywhere. Stuff was set up and never paid off in any way. Also, weak Borg make a weak episode.
2 out of 10
Monday, October 31, 2016
VOY: Tsunkatse
It is strange to go back to an episode where the Rock is a guest star and he barely stands out. Well, he owns the scenes he is in, but that is maybe only 5 minutes of the episode. Honestly I kinda wish he had been the one to take on the role of training Seven to eventually kill him. It turns out the Rock is a great actor so it would have been awesome, but Martok isn't a bad choice either. Oh yeah, the trainer also played Martok and the sleazy fight promoter played Weyoun making this an episode with some solid guest stars. I can't help but wonder if the writers heard Ridley Scott was directing a gladiator movie when they came up with this one. Sure it came out before the film so it clearly didn't rip it off, but the closeness of their releases makes me wonder if there is any relationship.
We open with a wild crowd cheering on an arena right between two aliens. One defeats the other by hitting it in discs that emit some sort of electric or other charge when hit with glowing panels on their hands and feet. After the fight we see Torres and Chakotay are in the crowd. They return to Voyager very excited about the fight. Janeway leaves just after they arrive on a mission in the Delta Flyer and the rest of the crew are taking shore leave in shifts. Chakotay sticks Torres with the job of running the bridge while he heads down for a fight. Seven and Tuvok though have decided to take a shuttle to check out a collapsing nebula or something which the Doctor considers quite dull. However on their way to the nebula they are attacked and taken captive but the people running the arena fight. Tuvok is injured and they refuse to treat him unless Seven agrees to fight.
In the arena Seven faces off with a slightly aliened up Rock. Chakotay and Neelix are horrified in the crowd to see Seven in the arena and they get Torres to try to beam her out, but it seems she isn't actually there. It is a holographic projection. Seven almost wins the fight but hesitates on the final blow allowing the Rock to best her. After the fight Seven wakes up to a Hirogen treating her wounds. He has been there for 19 years and offers to train her. She agrees and after a while the two hit it off. He convinces her to see her opponent as prey since it is literally kill or be killed in some matches. Tuvok tells Seven to do all she has to do to win her next fight as she is taken to the arena.
Voyager meanwhile has tracked down the fight ship, but it is huge and dangerous. They open fire as Seven enters the arena to learn she will be fighting her trainer to the death. He tells her he wants a good death, he has been here too long. Voyager manages to get Tuvok out but Seven is behind too much shielding. She is hesitant in the fight but eventually gets the best of the Hirogen. Just before she delivers the killing blow the Flyer knocks out the transmitters and the shields drop enough to beam both Seven and her opponent to safety. He leaves to look for his son and she questions whether she has lost her humanity again.
Review: A decent episode with some solid guest appearances and a story with some action. Pretty typical gladiator story ala TOS, but not in a particularily bad way.
6 out of 10
We open with a wild crowd cheering on an arena right between two aliens. One defeats the other by hitting it in discs that emit some sort of electric or other charge when hit with glowing panels on their hands and feet. After the fight we see Torres and Chakotay are in the crowd. They return to Voyager very excited about the fight. Janeway leaves just after they arrive on a mission in the Delta Flyer and the rest of the crew are taking shore leave in shifts. Chakotay sticks Torres with the job of running the bridge while he heads down for a fight. Seven and Tuvok though have decided to take a shuttle to check out a collapsing nebula or something which the Doctor considers quite dull. However on their way to the nebula they are attacked and taken captive but the people running the arena fight. Tuvok is injured and they refuse to treat him unless Seven agrees to fight.
In the arena Seven faces off with a slightly aliened up Rock. Chakotay and Neelix are horrified in the crowd to see Seven in the arena and they get Torres to try to beam her out, but it seems she isn't actually there. It is a holographic projection. Seven almost wins the fight but hesitates on the final blow allowing the Rock to best her. After the fight Seven wakes up to a Hirogen treating her wounds. He has been there for 19 years and offers to train her. She agrees and after a while the two hit it off. He convinces her to see her opponent as prey since it is literally kill or be killed in some matches. Tuvok tells Seven to do all she has to do to win her next fight as she is taken to the arena.
Voyager meanwhile has tracked down the fight ship, but it is huge and dangerous. They open fire as Seven enters the arena to learn she will be fighting her trainer to the death. He tells her he wants a good death, he has been here too long. Voyager manages to get Tuvok out but Seven is behind too much shielding. She is hesitant in the fight but eventually gets the best of the Hirogen. Just before she delivers the killing blow the Flyer knocks out the transmitters and the shields drop enough to beam both Seven and her opponent to safety. He leaves to look for his son and she questions whether she has lost her humanity again.
Review: A decent episode with some solid guest appearances and a story with some action. Pretty typical gladiator story ala TOS, but not in a particularily bad way.
6 out of 10
Sunday, October 30, 2016
VOY: Memorial
Sometimes Trek tries to hide its message behind crazy aliens with strange powers, and sometimes it just comes out and says we shouldn't forget attrocities. Which to be fair isn't exactly a controversial message. The idea of a memorial that forces the memories of what happened onto anyone who stumbles across it seems like a good idea, but it seems like it would likely cause some ships to fall apart into mutiny and chaos and almost certainly cause more death so maybe not such a great idea. Still, seeing the crew experience the events from different perspectives was really interesting. Some were much more hands on with the violence and some were just witnesses to it. But all felt the burden of what happened.
The episode opens with the Flyer on its way back from a two week mission and tension is running high. Well, it is for Harry at least. He seems ready to never see Tom, Chakotay or Neelix ever again. The Doctor really helps too by insisting they all come in for physicals really soon. Torres welcomes Paris home with a gift, a television from the 50's! He loves it so much that he can barely pay attention to her. Late that night he realize the controls aren't working and then he sees himself on the screen in a battle. And then he is in the battle, and then he wakes up. The next day Harry is working on a Jefferies tube when he starts hearing voices and sounds of battle and crawls out as fast as he can before heading to sickbay. The Doctor finds nothing wrong and prescribes him two days rest. In the mess hall Naomi stops by to talk to Neelix but he freaks out and grabs a phaser. Chakotay has to talk him down.
The four who were on the mission all meet in the briefing room with the captain. It seems they all share memories of being in a military unit that was sent to evacuate a colony against its will. Things went bad and they ended up massacring all the colonists and covering it up. Janeway decides to go back to where the Flyer visited to find out what happened. As they approach she too is struck by the memories as are many of the crew. They head down to the planet and discover the battle happened centuries earlier. They find a monument that seems to be transmitting the memories, but its' power is failing. Janeway decides to repair the beacon and get the hell out of there.
Review: Pretty straight forward, but not a bad way to examine both soldiers coming back from combat and how we memorialize the horrors of war.
6 out of 10
The episode opens with the Flyer on its way back from a two week mission and tension is running high. Well, it is for Harry at least. He seems ready to never see Tom, Chakotay or Neelix ever again. The Doctor really helps too by insisting they all come in for physicals really soon. Torres welcomes Paris home with a gift, a television from the 50's! He loves it so much that he can barely pay attention to her. Late that night he realize the controls aren't working and then he sees himself on the screen in a battle. And then he is in the battle, and then he wakes up. The next day Harry is working on a Jefferies tube when he starts hearing voices and sounds of battle and crawls out as fast as he can before heading to sickbay. The Doctor finds nothing wrong and prescribes him two days rest. In the mess hall Naomi stops by to talk to Neelix but he freaks out and grabs a phaser. Chakotay has to talk him down.
The four who were on the mission all meet in the briefing room with the captain. It seems they all share memories of being in a military unit that was sent to evacuate a colony against its will. Things went bad and they ended up massacring all the colonists and covering it up. Janeway decides to go back to where the Flyer visited to find out what happened. As they approach she too is struck by the memories as are many of the crew. They head down to the planet and discover the battle happened centuries earlier. They find a monument that seems to be transmitting the memories, but its' power is failing. Janeway decides to repair the beacon and get the hell out of there.
Review: Pretty straight forward, but not a bad way to examine both soldiers coming back from combat and how we memorialize the horrors of war.
6 out of 10
Saturday, October 29, 2016
VOY: Virtuoso
For an episode that after about 10 minutes I had decided I hated this one turned out all right. Certainly not perfect, but for what they have done with the Doctor's singing it is pretty cool. I appreciate a race that talks down to the Federation as much as the Federation seems to talk down to just about everyone they meet. Also an interesting look at fame and how fleeting it can be. One minute someone is the new hot thing, the next minute who cares. Maybe a bit more singing that would be ideal, but I guess I can forgive it in an episode that is all about singing.
We open with the Doctor trying to treat the obnoxious Qomar for their injuries. They constantly belittle everyone around them and especially consider the Doctor to be inferior. After Janeway checks in the Doctor starts singing a bit and they are blown away. They can't get enough of his singing so he has a concert on the ship along with some other musicians, but the Qomar only want him. They become obsessed to the point that he gets invited to the planet to perform there. They modify a lecture hall to his specifications. He starts getting fan mail to the point that Seven is convinced the Qomar must be attacking Voyager. Eventually he thinks he is fallen in love and hesitantly decides to leave Voyager. When he gets down though his lover has designed a superior hologram that can sing a broader range than he can. At the concert that night the Doctor gets polite applause and the replacement a standing ovation. He returns to Voyager crushed but in the end Seven gives him a really nice piece of fan mail from her.
Review: I know my write up is short, but it is a pretty straightforward episode. Well told with some fun bit with the crew getting irritated at his new found fame and a very touching ending.
7 out of 10
We open with the Doctor trying to treat the obnoxious Qomar for their injuries. They constantly belittle everyone around them and especially consider the Doctor to be inferior. After Janeway checks in the Doctor starts singing a bit and they are blown away. They can't get enough of his singing so he has a concert on the ship along with some other musicians, but the Qomar only want him. They become obsessed to the point that he gets invited to the planet to perform there. They modify a lecture hall to his specifications. He starts getting fan mail to the point that Seven is convinced the Qomar must be attacking Voyager. Eventually he thinks he is fallen in love and hesitantly decides to leave Voyager. When he gets down though his lover has designed a superior hologram that can sing a broader range than he can. At the concert that night the Doctor gets polite applause and the replacement a standing ovation. He returns to Voyager crushed but in the end Seven gives him a really nice piece of fan mail from her.
Review: I know my write up is short, but it is a pretty straightforward episode. Well told with some fun bit with the crew getting irritated at his new found fame and a very touching ending.
7 out of 10
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